Health professionals have revealed to the BBC that they use Snapchat and WhatsApp to share information about patients.
Under current NHS guidelines, it is illegal to send internet based messages through apps to send patient information.
GP Allisdair MacNair announced: “I have seen chat on Facebook groups that sails pretty close to the wind in terms of discussing medical information, and I’ve definitely seen stuff which is one step away from being patient identifying.”
“I’m very wary of going near anything like that because of the risk of breaching data laws, but it would appear others don’t seem to be aware of the risks,” she added.
Last week, Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) investigated into how UK health services look after patient information and data, and found that Google’s DeepMind similarly shared 1.6 million of patient data.
Written by Leah Alger
