A new database for patients’ medical records is “all about cash, not improving health”, says a Bradford MP.

Respect MP George Galloway tore into the scheme to bring together all GP records, calling on the Government to scrap it before it was too late. Ministers say the database – care.data – is needed to improve medical research and identify poor NHS care.

But critics say the records – albeit anonymised – can also be sold to health companies and drug manufacturers. And there are fears that creating a database will lead to people’s sensitive medical information falling into the hands of hackers.