Thousands of Drenthe have not yet given permission to share their medical data with various healthcare providers. This can have major consequences for the health of the patient. That is why the Drentse Apothekers Coöperatie (DAC), a cooperative of all pharmacies in Drenthe, is currently starting a campaign to make Drenthe alert to give permission after all.
Permission must be given to the Landelijk Schakelpunt, which can in fact release someone’s medicine data when necessary. For example, if someone is no longer able to tell a doctor which medicines they are already taking.
“It’s super important that a person’s medical records are available to every healthcare provider.” That’s what Paul Jansema says. He is the managing pharmacist at the BENU pharmacy in Hoogeveen.
“Suppose you unexpectedly end up in a different hospital than usual, for whatever reason. If you have not given permission for the sharing of your medical data, the doctor will not know which medicines you can and cannot take.”
This can have major consequences. “Some people are very allergic to certain medicines. It is also possible that severe side effects may arise if the wrong medicines are administered. All of this can be prevented if medical information is known in advance to the healthcare provider.”
With a letter, the DAC wants to draw the attention of all over-70s to the importance of sharing medical data. This letter will be sent in the coming weeks. “The group of people who have not yet given permission is so large that we had to focus on a smaller target group,” says Jansema.
“We have chosen to first focus on all people over 70, because this group of people is the most vulnerable. In addition, the majority of these people are already taking medicines. It is important for every healthcare provider to know which medicines someone is already taking, because some medicines absolutely cannot be taken at the same time.”
Jansema hopes that all people under the age of seventy will hear about the campaign in the corridors. He hopes that all these people will then wonder whether they have arranged their permission properly.
“The best thing would be if permission were no longer necessary at all, but the strong counterpart of this campaign is simply the privacy law. We hope to create enough awareness with this campaign. It is ultimately to everyone’s advantage as of so many possibly people’s medical records are simply known.”