Data protection and the clinician: guidelines on data security.

As a result of the 1984 Data Protection Act, British health authorities have been reviewing and revising their policies and codes of practice on confidentiality and associated issues to conform to the standards enunciated in the Act. Detailed guidelines are given here that are suitable for securing electronically held data--the only type of data protected by the law. Clinicians are advised to use these guidelines to check the security of their own systems of electronic and manual records.