Our research into health and big data
The ACHEEV Team talks about the relationship between health and Big Data
Annette Braunack-Mayer [00:00:03] Every day we produce large amounts of information about ourselves through our interactions with government agencies in ACHEEV we're exploring what governments should be allowed to do with our data, who they can share it with
Belinda Fabrianesi [00:00:16] and what ordinary people in our community think about these questions.
Jackie Street [00:00:20] To take one example, health departments should be able to use our own information to provide appropriate treatment for all of us. But at the same time, I think most people believe that health departments should be able to combine everyone's information to improve services and the health system as a whole.
Rebecca Bosward [00:00:37] But what about combining everyone's hospital records with their education records or housing information
Belinda Fabrianesi [00:00:43] or giving our data to a pharmaceutical company to develop new drugs or to monitor the safety of drugs that are already available?
Annette Braunack-Mayer [00:00:50] And the whole field of big data is changing so rapidly that there will be new uses for our data, new organisations and people to share it with and even new data sets we hadn't thought of using.
Rebecca Bosward [00:01:01] It's not surprising that some people are concerned about using government data in this way. We could lose control over where or how our personal information is stored, and this could lead to a potential violation of our privacy.
Jackie Street [00:01:13] Our research suggests that people mostly worry about discrimination and embarrassment if their personal details were revealed. And this has the potential to undermine the public trust in the service providers and the system as a whole.
Annette Braunack-Mayer [00:01:27] So we're asking community members what they think about these issues, and we're feeding the information back to the agencies who make decisions about data sharing.