European doctors call for more ambition on professional secrecy and patient confidentiality in European Health Data Space

Whilst European doctors welcome the recognition of the principles of professional secrecy and patient confidentiality in the non-binding part of the regulation’s text, the opportunity to expressly devote an article on them should not be missed.

CPME President Dr Christiaan Keijzer said “For the EHDS to foster trustworthy use of health data, a healthcare professional must ensure secrecy of all the information they have processed from a patient. This is a fundamental principle that must be preserved online and as well as offline.”

The statement also stresses that to provide safe healthcare, the European Health Record needs to signal that information has been restricted. European Doctors therefore strongly support the Council’s approach on the right to restrict access and information on access.

European doctors further support the European Parliament’s approach on medical liability, on protecting the vital interests and rights of health professionals, and on prohibited purposes.

CPME regrets that small enterprises have not been exempted from providing data for secondary use, but see positively the solution proposed by the Council of “health data intermediation entities” to relieve healthcare professionals of this task.

For further information please see our statement on “European Health Data Space - Reaction to Council’s mandate and European parliament’s Amendments.