Health Services: Counter-terrorism

(asked on 20th October 2020) - View Source

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the report by Medact False Positives: the Prevent counter-extremism policy in healthcare, published on 2 July, particularly its finding that there is evidence that Prevent undermines key duties of health professionals, including (1) confidentiality, (2) duty of care to the patient, and (3) consent.


Answered by
Lord Bethell Portrait
Lord Bethell
This question was answered on 28th October 2020

The Department has noted the concerns raised in the report by Medact False Positives: the Prevent counter-extremism policy in healthcare. Healthcare professionals have a duty of care to safeguard patients who may be vulnerable to being drawn into terrorism. Prevent is a statutory duty for National Health Service trusts and foundation trusts, whose staff may need to share personal information to ensure that a person at risk of radicalisation is given appropriate support. Information sharing is governed by legislation and assessed on a case-by-case basis, which considers whether the informed consent of the individual can be obtained and that the proposed sharing is necessary, proportionate and lawful.

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