Under the NHS agency, Connecting for Health, the Government is introducing a new NHS Care Records Service for every one of England's 50 million-plus patients and a National Programme for Information Technology.

A summary of a patient's care and clinical history will be held on this national database, ensuring that particularly important information about a patient is always accessible to those caring for them.

During questions to Health Secretary Alan Johnson in the House of Commons on Tuesday, Mr Fraser raised the Government's "dismal" record on the handling of sensitive data.

Afterwards, he said: "Under this Government, almost 300,000 patient prescriptions have been lost, junior doctor job applications have been openly viewed on the Internet and a laptop with thousands of patient details on has been stolen.

"This is all on the back of the loss of child benefit records, affecting more than seven million families, at the end of last year.

"I am hugely concerned about the Government's track record on the protection of individuals' personal details. The Minister said that the level of security on the NHS database system was up to the job, but my constituents are asking for more than empty promises.

"People want more than just words of reassurance – they want to see a complete rethink on data protection enforcement by the Government.

"I will continue to monitor the roll-out of the NHS database to ensure that the protection of my constituents' personal details is given the utmost priority."