When is it ok for organisations to access patient information, without asking the patient first?
That’s the question the Confidentiality Advisory Group (CAG) is asked to answer every time it meets. Whether it’s a request from researchers to look at readmission rates for mental health patients or a company looking to audit whether CCGs are being overcharged, the group’s role is to provide the Health Research Authority and the Secretary of State for Health with independent expert advice on applications to access patient information without consent in England and Wales.
Confidentiality Advisory Group members appointment
We are looking to increase our CAG membership from April 2018. As one of the CAG’s
voluntary members, you will robustly
assess applications within our regulatory framework and developed principles to
advise whether the activity is in the public interest. We are keen to recruit a
diverse set of both lay and expert members from a variety of backgrounds. You
could be a member of the public, a patient representative, a member of a
consumer group, a healthcare professional, or a member of a professional
regulatory body or an academic/research institution.
Please review the Member information pack for further details of the role. If you have any queries around the role, please initially contact us via HRA.CAG@nhs.net or via 020 7972 2557.
CAG member deadline for application: 2 February 2018
Shortlisted candidates informed: 26 February 2018
CAG member interviews: early March 2018 (TBC)
Members would be expected to take up their role from April 2018, and should be available to attend the CAG induction on 04 April 2018
Dr Mark Taylor, former chair:
“Our job in CAG is to get into the detail that people don’t have the opportunity to consider in their busy lives. We’re considering the issues on their behalf.
“It is a responsibility to be acting on behalf of a patient, and to try and put oneself in her or his shoes and support what they would if asked.
“It’s been a pleasure to have contributed to the group over the past ten years and to have chaired it for five. It is challenging work, but an opportunity to learn a great deal, and always in a supportive environment. Ultimately this is a group with a public service motivation to enable excellent research and other medical purposes that patients would support, and that otherwise wouldn’t happen. It’s been a privilege being part of that.”