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<p>There has been no change in policy with regards to obtaining consent of a patient
for the purposes of an inquiry or investigation and therefore Ministers have not been
consulted.</p><p> </p><p>If a National Health Service body is to disclose patient
information held by it in order to progress an inquiry from a hon. Member<ins class="ministerial">
on behalf of a constituent</ins>, <ins class="ministerial">there are circumstances
in which the body may provide patient information to a Member of Parliament without
the Member evidencing the explicit consent of the patient, so long as that information
is provided in accordance with the requirements set out in paragraph 24 of Schedule
1 to the Data Protection Act 2018</ins><del class="ministerial">it must obtain the
consent of the patient before doing so</del>. An inquiry or an investigation will
almost certainly require the disclosure by the NHS body of information relating to
the constituent as patient.</p><p> </p><p>The NHS body must be content that there
is a legal basis under the General Data Protection Regulation/Data Protection Act
for processing patient information (i.e. disclosing and sharing it for the purposes
of the investigation). This is easier to satisfy if it is clear the patient has consented
to the hon. Member making investigations on their behalf.</p>
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