Consumers and patients organisations have called on the health minister to make it easier for patients who do not want their health records included in the new digital system to opt out.

At the weekend, health minister Ab Klink sent a letter to all households informing them how to opt out of the proposed system – a complicated process which costs around €12 for each child aged under 16.
The patients’ federation said it is wrong in principle to make people who do not want their records held in a central system pay.
MPs have warned Klink that he is losing support for the introduction of electronic records, known as the EPD. Klink wants the EPD system to be up and running at the end of 2009.