My Lords, we support the amendments in the names of the noble Baroness, Lady Finlay of Llandaff, and the noble Lord, Lord Ribeiro, and Amendment 103 in the name of the noble Baroness, Lady Cumberlege. Registers are a tool that helps clinicians to track devices and those who have the devices fitted or implanted, and to use the data for research and to aid patients to seek redress.
The noble Baroness, Lady Finlay, explained clearly how the amendment would work to help to change a medical device that no longer functions. By citing the recall mechanism for a faulty domestic product, she illustrated what is required of a device register.
The amendments in this group relate to the tracking of medical devices, and the information stored. Amendments 86, 88 and 102 would allow regulations to provide for the tracking of all devices, as they are used, via a unique device identifier, with the information recorded either in registries or through hospital episode statistics data.
Amendment 103 is an important amendment, tabled by the noble Baroness, Lady Cumberlege, that seeks to clarify which information held by the healthcare system requires the consent of the relevant patient. Data is
powerful, and should be kept appropriately. The governance of data has been a key issue in the NHS for more than 20 years.
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Today in Committee we have heard the noble Baroness spell out what happened to those who had vaginal mesh implants that were not recorded in any sort of register or database that could readily be accessed. Consequently, they spent many years in extreme discomfort at best, and at worst, in agony.
If information is readily identifiable as belonging to an individual, it should be stored in the appropriate national register, patients should consent to those who wish to keep their data for their own use, and types of data should be clearly defined in regulation. I welcome the SI for which the noble Baroness, Lady Cumberlege, called, although at the moment I sometimes think that we have rather more SIs than we need—or perhaps they are not more than we need, but they certainly seem to be coming along thick and fast.
We welcome the amendments. In his closing remarks, would the Minister confirm that registers would be accessible to the private sector as well as to the NHS?