Norman Lamb MP (Liberal Democrat) MP for North Norfolk. Currently Minister of State, Department of Health.

Issues

NHS

Commenting on the announcement that Fujitsu has been sacked from the NHS IT contract, Liberal Democrat Shadow Health Secretary, Norman Lamb said 29 May 2008

"This is yet another example of a hopelessly flawed, centrally imposed project that has not been properly thought through from the start and was never subjected to a proper cost benefit analysis."

"The termination of Fujitso’s contract is another blow to the Government’s £12.7bn national IT scheme, and it comes hard on the heals of the NAO report found that the programme would be completed four years behind schedule."

"I am writing to Alan Johnson to urge him to accept that now is the time for a thorough review."

Freedom of Information

Signed Early Day Motion 2699 Freedom of Information 10 December 2006

That this House welcomes the finding of the Constitutional Affairs Committee (HC991) that the Freedom of Information Act has `already brought about the release of significant new information and....this information is being used in a constructive and positive way' and the committee's conclusion that it sees `no need to change' the Act's charging arrangements; views with concern reports that the Government is considering changing these arrangements to permit an application fee to be charged for all requests or to allow authorities to refuse, on cost grounds, a significant proportion of requests which they currently must answer; and considers that such changes could undermine the Act's benefits of increased openness, accountability and trust in the work of public authorities.

Links

News

2012-09-10 - Register - Health minister warns ISPs: Block suicide websites or face regulation: Summary: Telcos face being regulated by the government if they fail to block websites offering advice on suicide, the health minister Norman Lamb has warned. [...]

2008-11-28 - Liberal Democrates - NHS data loss utterly shocking: Summary: Research by the Liberal Democrats has uncovered a catalogue of errors by the NHS regarding the protection of confidential patient information. Reported cases involved the loss or theft of diaries, briefcases, CDs, laptops, memory sticks, and even vehicles containing patient records.Private patient notes were left in public places, deserted buildings, and dumped in bins and skips. The incidents, contained in responses to a Freedom of Information request from the Liberal Democrats involved: * Patent record loss so serious that 25 patients were visited by the Police and NHS management * The theft of an entire GP practice system * Confidential patient information being posted to the wrong people. Liberal Democrat Shadow Health Secretary, Norman Lamb has written to the Health Secretary Alan Johnson urging him to accept five clear priorities to stem the loss of confidential data. Commenting, Norman Lamb said: "Patients have a right to expect their personal information will be treated with the utmost care." "We already know from the Information Commissioner that the NHS is among the worst offenders for data loss, reporting as many incidents as the entire private sector." "There must be a fundamental re-examination of how the NHS deals with personal data. The NHS should regard lapses of standards of care as potential serious misconduct." . Norman Lamb's five priorities to stem the loss of confidential data are: 1. The Department of Health should publish minimum standards for the protection of data on mobile devices and ensure that all NHS staff are aware of their particular responsibilities. 2. As a general principle, patient records should not be stored on mobile devices and strict rules must apply to control the copying of data. Any exceptions must be authorised after a risk assessment and only where it is unavoidable for the completion of work duties and the provision of care. 3. All mobile data devices should be protected through appropriate security controls regardless of the sensitivity of the information held. This includes the use of authentication, encryption, and other technical separation controls as well as registration and allocation of devices to an ‘owner'. 4. Lapses in standards of care should be regarded as potential serious misconduct. 5. The Government should formally abandon its plans for a national patient database.

2008-09-17 - Kable - LibDems call for halt to NPfIT: Summary: The Liberal Democrat shadow health secretary Norman Lamb has called for an immediate end to further spending on the NHS National Programme for IT. He also pledged an independent inquiry into the £12.4bn project to computerise the health service, which he said had been "a shambles from the start". "We believe the gains possible from the use of IT would more likely be realised if the programme were decentralised and control given to local organisations who could instead work on improving connectivity between health and social care,"

2008-05-29 - Liberal Democrats - NHS IT scheme hopelessly flawed: Author: Norman Lamb MP; Summary: Commenting on the announcement that Fujitsu has been sacked from the NHS IT contract, Liberal Democrat Shadow Health Secretary, Norman Lamb said: "This is yet another example of a hopelessly flawed, centrally imposed project that has not been properly thought through from the start and was never subjected to a proper cost benefit analysis." "The termination of Fujitso’s contract is another blow to the Government’s £12.7bn national IT scheme, and it comes hard on the heals of the NAO report found that the programme would be completed four years behind schedule." "I am writing to Alan Johnson to urge him to accept that now is the time for a thorough review."

2007-12-24 - The Guardian - Primarolo admits ignorance over data losses by nine NHS trusts: Author: Patrick Wintour; Summary: The health minister, Dawn Primarolo does not know exactly what is has been lost by nine NHS trusts. Ministers will be worried that the loss will further undermine confidence in the department's plans for a new computer database of all NHS patients' records. ... The Liberal Democrat health spokesman, Norman Lamb, said: "The whole culture of data management in the public sector has to change. Organisations and staff must understand that this sort of important data must be protected at all cost." The campaign group NO2ID, which opposes ID cards and moves to centralise all NHS records, said: "We are now starting to see the consequences of the government obsession with information 'sharing' and centralised IT in the NHS. If you care about your privacy, then keep your medical records between you and your doctor, and out of the hands of the Department of Health, if you can."

2007-04-26 - Liberal Democrats - Inquiry needed into medical students data chaos: Author: Norman Lamb MP; Summary: Commenting on reports that details of medical students on the medical training application service were openly available, Liberal Democrat Shadow Health Secretary Norman Lamb MP, said: "This is the latest compelling evidence of why it is so important that there should have been proper piloting of the IT system before it was introduced on a nationwide basis." "There should be an inquiry into this chaotic and unacceptable situation." "This is a serious breach of data protection principles. We need to find out what happened and who is responsible."

2007-04-26 - Liberal Democrats - Information Commisioner must investigate junior doctor website blunder

Author: Norman Lamb MP

Summary: The Liberal Democrats have today written to the Information Commissioner asking him to urgently investigate the release of sensitive personal data of junior doctors on a Government website. Liberal Democrat Shadow Health Secretary, Norman Lamb MP wrote to Richard Thomas about the availability of the data on the Department of Health’s Medical Training Application Service (MTAS) website, which was discovered last night. The letter said:

I write regarding the very disturbing news about access to the sensitive personal data of junior doctors via the Department of Health’s Medical Training Application Service (MTAS) website, as reported on the evening of 25th April.

The lack of consideration for the security of personal data in this case seems to constitute a serious breach of the Data Protection Act. I am sure you will agree this is an extremely concerning situation. I therefore ask that you thoroughly and urgently investigate this matter.

I would also like you to consider whether this development casts further doubt on the advisability of persisting with the MTAS system without further thorough piloting and without cast iron reassurance as to the integrity of the system and safeguards to protect sensitive personal data.

Are there any lessons to be learnt from this debacle in respect of the plans to establish a national database of patient records under the ‘Connecting for Health’ IT programme?

I understand that the junior doctor campaign group Remedy UK has also written to you calling for the firmest possible action to be taken in respect of the apparent breach of the Data Protection Act.

I look forward to hearing from you as soon as possible.

Yours sincerely,

Norman Lamb

Liberal Democrat Shadow Secretary of State for Health

More info

Wikipedia