The Editor
Times Colonist, Nanaimo Daily News

I want to clarify outdated information in the December 15th editorial 'Health data could save lives'.

Our government continues to work on breaking down barriers to ministry data while also protecting the public's right to privacy. In fact, we have made significant progress regarding access times for researchers: It once took two years for researchers to gain access to our data; it now takes an average of between 45 and 83 days. And we are continuing this work.

I recently spoke at The Data Effect conference in Vancouver, where researchers, government and stakeholders explored how we could further improve researcher access to our vast data bases in order to improve the health outcomes of British Columbians.

I announced that our government will establish a working group to help us develop an improved model for researchers to access our data and to continue to protect the public's right to privacy. The group will look at successful research models around the world and make recommendations to me and my ministry in the spring.

We will use the recommendations coming from this group to develop a new, secure model of access in order to provide researchers with the information they need to help improve the quality of life of British Columbians while protecting personal information.

Open and accessible data is good for the province and for the health of our population. With the progress we are making, we will ensure that we will be able to make better evidence-based decisions to help British Columbian patients and our health care system.

Terry Lake
Minister of Health