Healthcare professionals fear GDPR like Big Brother

The approaching deadline for the GDPR to come into force is encountering obstacles related to staff behaviour in healthcare facilities. The new regulation has long been presented as a threat to them, but this has led to often unnecessary concerns. So now, experts are working to demystify the topic.

Healthcare facilities are running into obstacles as GDPR approaches. Surprisingly, these relate not to the cost of acquiring new technology related to the regulation's obligations, but to people.

In fact, the GDPR will make staff working in healthcare change their behaviour. Experts who gathered at a Healthcare Journal roundtable late last year also spoke of the Big Brother phenomenon that many of these workers fear.

"For a while, I felt the need to present GDPR as a threat - when I spoke to people in healthcare, I felt that not everyone felt the need to do anything in relation to GDPR. Therefore, it was necessary to raise the importance of the topic so that managers understand it," said Radek Policar, deputy for legislation at the Ministry of Health. He also added, however, that this approach had led to mythologisation of GDPR and growing concerns and that these concerns would now need to be allayed.

"GDPR will thus be an obligation for every entity in the healthcare sector, but may not mean any groundbreaking changes for many facilities," the roundtable report said. According to it, the primary need will be to assess which data is being used and for how long, and whether the use of personal data can be avoided. "However, measures should be proportionate to the risks involved," the report concludes.

Sometimes too much ignorance of the requirements of the new regulation raises unnecessary and exaggerated concerns. So be prepared, do your research and ask questions, like us. We will be happy to advise you!