[Earw0rm]

Single payer healthcare here (UK) is still subject to privacy controls in a way which would make it very difficult to do that.

(Also our health system's IT is a hellscape, but one reason for that is that people would literally rather not have a working system at all, than one with less than impeccable privacy controls.

Personally I'd gladly sacrifice a fair bit of medical privacy in return for giving scientists greater insight into disease processes, but the average citizen here wants advanced healthcare without giving their data to research scientists. /facepalm )

[spookie]

I trust the scientists, the problem isn't them. Look at the whole abortion data scandal in the U.S.

[Earw0rm]

The problem there is the US' insane theocrat-conservatives (or just misogynist assholes hiding behind a thin veneer of religious justification, as the case may be).

I'm not saying a health IT system should have no privacy controls either. But the requirements for such controls need to be balanced against having a system that actually works, and that means having some people who actually understand the tech, and the workings of hospitals, having a role in requirements conversations. Instead it was dominated by MPs, "patient advocacy" groups and privacy campaigners, none of whom know or care anything about how to build a workable system.