Imperial College London
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ProfessorHelenWard

Faculty of Medicine, School of Public Health

Professor of Public Health
 
 
 
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Contact

 

+44 (0)20 7594 3303h.ward Website

 
 
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Location

 

311School of Public HealthWhite City Campus

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Summary

 

Publications

Citation

BibTex format

@article{Papageorgiou:2020:10.1136/bmjopen-2019-033202,
author = {Papageorgiou, V and Wharton-Smith, A and Campos-Matos, I and Ward, H},
doi = {10.1136/bmjopen-2019-033202},
journal = {BMJ Open},
title = {Patient data-sharing for immigration enforcement: a qualitative study of healthcare providers in England},
url = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2019-033202},
volume = {10},
year = {2020}
}
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RIS format (EndNote, RefMan)

TY  - JOUR
AB  - Aim: To explore healthcare providers’ perceptions and experiences of the implications of a patient data-sharing agreement between National Health Service (NHS) Digital and the Home Office on access to NHS services and quality of care received by migrant patients in England.Design: A qualitative study using semi-structured interviews, thematic analysis and constant-comparison approach.Participants: Eleven healthcare providers and one non-clinical volunteer working in community or hospital-based settings who had experience of migrants accessing NHS England services. Interviews were carried out in 2018.Setting: England.Results: Awareness and understanding of the patient data-sharing agreement varied among participants, who associated this with a perceived lack of transparency by the government. Participants provided insight into how they thought the data-sharing agreement was negatively influencing migrants’ health-seeking behaviour, their relationship with clinicians and the safety and quality of their care. They referred to the policy as a challenge to their core ethical principles, explicitly patient confidentiality and trust, which varied depending on their clinical specialty.Conclusions: A perceived lack of transparency during the policy development process can result in suspicion or mistrust towards government among the health workforce, patients and public, which is underpinned by a notion of power or control. The patient data-sharing agreement was considered a threat to some of the core principles of the NHS and its implementation as adversely affecting healthcare access and patient safety. Future policy development should involve a range of stakeholders including civil society, healthcare professionals and ethicists, and include more meaningful assessments of the impact on healthcare and public health.
AU  - Papageorgiou,V
AU  - Wharton-Smith,A
AU  - Campos-Matos,I
AU  - Ward,H
DO  - 10.1136/bmjopen-2019-033202
PY  - 2020///
SN  - 2044-6055
TI  - Patient data-sharing for immigration enforcement: a qualitative study of healthcare providers in England
T2  - BMJ Open
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2019-033202
UR  - http://hdl.handle.net/10044/1/76862
VL  - 10
ER  -
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