The General Practice Data Governance Council is “committed to profession-led governance regarding the issues of data collection activities in general practice,” in particular secondary use of patient data generated through clinical care delivery to patients.

GPs and consumers have voiced concerns with regards to secondary use of data uploaded to the PCEHR, so I thought it would be interesting to have a look at the PCEHR and see if it meets the goals of the Data Governance Council.

As outlined in an earlier post, it appears PCEHR data can be used by the government for:

• Law enforcement purposes
• Health provider indemnity insurance cover purposes
• Research
• Public health purposes
• Other purposes authorised by law

The eight goals of the General Practice Data Governance Council are in the context of secondary use of data from general practice. They are listed below, followed by my pass or fail verdict with brief comments.