This weekend a letter arrived at millions of homes all over the country, informing us about the Electronic Patients Dossier or EPD – the new digital system of keeping our health records online.

This means that anyone who needs to access our records can do so: from the chemist handing out antibiotics to the doctor who is looking at your twisted ankle.
They will all be able to read about your depression and your sexually transmitted diseases and other dark medical secrets.
So what, you may say. After all, they are professionals. And, of course, the government is building all sorts of safeguards into the system. Just like it did with the oh-so privacy conscious public transport smart card.
Hackers must be salivating at the idea of accessing the health records of the rich and famous.
Still, if you object to being included, you can always opt out. You do have to fill out a form and include a copy of your current passport or driving licence and get a recent print-out of the birth certificate of children aged under-16 (at a cost) and mail it all off. Not the easiest of procedures but there you go.
And if you have any further questions about the EPD, the letter asks you to contact your family doctor. An interesting suggestion in view of the fact that doctors are opposed to the EPD in its present form and have concerns about patients’ privacy.