Mark Davies, Medical Director of the Health and Social Care Information Centre (HSCIC), will leave the organisation in March, with his position on the board made redundant. Davies has been a prominent figure in the debate around confidentiality of patient data, which has been ignited in recent weeks over the rollout of the care.data scheme, which will see the HSCIC obtain anonymised medical records from GP surgeries, in order to link this to hospital and social care records to help create a picture of the health situation in the UK.
The scheme has been much criticised by a number of different groups, who have argued that personal data could fall into the wrong hands, in particular following Davies’ assertion that the HSCIC could not block a request from “a Government Department, university researcher, pharmaceutical company or insurance company” for information. Davis’ departure is also thought to be partly due to a frosty relationship with HSCIC Chair Kingsley Manning, and leaves the organisation without a clinician on its board.
