Bill Harvey: Time and a word

In the week when we learned why the Government didn’t want us to hear about Russian influence over UK politics, and just after scare stories of Russian operatives attempting to steal vaccine-related information, it was great to see science winning in the dissemination of fact. News of positive results from the Oxford vaccine trial should be what we remember this week for, and not yet another case of ‘bald men fighting over a comb.’ (See page 19 for further discussion).

Another development in openness to be lauded was the announcement that all Covid test results will automatically be sent to your GP as well as being communicated to the individual, giving GPs visibility of which of their patients have had Covid-19 tests and whether they have tested positive or negative. Patients who use online patient services (such as the NHS App), and have requested full access to their GP medical records, will now be able to access their results themselves, as well as receiving their results via communication from the NHS Business Service Authority as before.