New rules to stop insurance company 'fishing expeditions' in GP records
Adopted by the Financial Services Council, they are designed to protect the doctor-patient relationship
Life insurance companies will be prevented from conducting ‘fishing expeditions’ into patient medical records under an industry-wide shake-up designed to protect patient privacy.
Drawn up by the Financial Services Council, the rules come into effect from 1 July and attempt to restrict insurers to requesting only targeted medical reports from GPs.
Any report requested when a patient applies for cover or makes a claim should only contain