Profit-mad life insurance firms will be investigated after claims that they are cashing in on confidential patient records when they sell their wares.

Data watchdog the Information Commissioner said yesterday it would probe allegations that insurers are routinely accessing medical records, including details about abortions, contraception, mental health and relationships, without customer consent.

Under data protection laws, insurance firms have to gain a patient’s signature to give access to health records.

But doctors have raised concerns that the companies are increasingly breaking the rules — seeking full disclosure of records when patients thought they were only giving limited consent.

Insurance firms Aviva and Legal and General said that for the past 12 months they had sought full medical records for their clients, but insisted they disregarded details which were not directly relevant to their assessments.

Although blanket requests were made, GPs have been instructed to withhold certain types on information, such as whether patients had tested negative for HIV.

The Medical Protection Society, which represents 290,000 medical professionals, said it experienced a sharp rise in concerns about data requests by insurers, with about 2,300 calls from doctors over the past year.

GPs professional body BMA’s John Canning said the revelation was of “grave concern” and warned that many customers may be providing consent without realising how much information might be released.

He said: “A GP will hold all your medical history, containing details such as contraception use, termination of pregnancies and relationship issues that would have no bearing on an insurance policy.

“Our concern is that the consent obtained by insurers isn’t always understood by the person applying for a policy.”