The Pharmaceutical Journal
Vol 270 No 7237 p260
22 February 2003

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Proposed entitlement cards (more)

Public happy with smart cards

Most members of the public would be happy to have their medical records held on a smart card, a new survey has found.

As part of its response to a Home Office consultation on proposed entitlement cards, which members of the public might have to produce before they could gain access to Government services or claim state benefits, information technology group SchlumbergerSema surveyed 1,000 adults. Of these, 80 per cent agreed that all adults should have to hold an entitlement card and 90 per cent were happy that health records be held on the card.

The data on such cards would be secured by an encrypted biometric — either a fingerprint, facial pattern or an iris photograph. SchlumbergerSema favours iris photography as being the most secure and the least intrusive when verification of identity is required. The decision to introduce such cards is a political one, it says.