Patients are to get the right to decide who should have access to their confidential medical details when they are stored in a central data bank, health minister Edith Schippers is set to announce on Thursday.

The minister also wants patients to be automatically sent an email or mobile phone text message if someone does look in their files.
‘Patient safety and preventing medical mistakes is paramount. But I also recognise the privacy issues and support adequate security of information,’ the minister said in a statement.

Opt outs
The introduction of the EPD began in 2008 and the system now holds the medical records of some 5.8 million people. Several hundred thousand have opted out of the system, largely due to concerns about privacy.
The aim of the EPD is to reduce medical mistakes by doctors, hospital specialists and pharmacists by allowing access to patients’ records via the internet. Internet security experts have so far found ‘no large holes’ in the system, the Telegraaf reports.
MPs will debate progress on the introduction on January 20.