Radstock Labour Party has launched an online petition calling on B&NES’ clinical commissioning group (CCG) to make sure all NHS community healthcare patients are told that their medical records will be transferred to Virgin Care.

“Individual medical records are private and confidential,” says Peter Jovcic-Sas, Secretary of the local Labour Party and NHS campaigner. “If they are to be transferred to a new provider, it’s only fair to tell everyone affected that this will happen. We are worried that neither the out-going service provider, Sirona, nor the in-coming provider, Virgin, appear to be taking this responsibility seriously enough. So we are

asking the CCG’s leaders to make sure it happens.”

Guidance from the information commissioner’s office (ICO) indicates that a ‘fair processing’ approach is the best way of guaranteeing that everyone knows their personal data is going to a new private sector company. It is an approach adopted by other NHS trusts across the country, as contracts are moved from one healthcare provider to another.

“The NHS constitution makes a strong commitment to putting the patients’ interests first,” adds Mr Jovcic-Sas, who works for a healthcare community trust. “In the absence of either Sirona or Virgin taking the lead on this important issue, B&NES CCG should step up to the plate.”

Readers can sign the petition at: http://tinyurl.com/hgednqa