The data held in the GP medical records of patients is used every day to support health and care planning and research in England, helping to find better treatments and improve patient outcomes for everyone. NHS Digital has developed a new way to collect this data, called the General Practice Data for Planning and Research data collection.
NHS Digital will not collect patients’ names or addresses directly. Any other data that could directly identify patients (such as NHS Number, date of birth, full postcode) is replaced with unique codes which are produced by de-identification software before the data is shared with NHS Digital (a process known as pseudonymisation).
Further information about the service can be found here.
This collection will start on 1 September 2021 so if you do not want your data to be shared with NHS Digital please register your Type 1 Opt-out with your GP practice by 18 August 2021.
Opt Out Form – please download, print, complete and hand this into reception at either site, or post to Highfields Medical Centre as per the address on the form.
The National Data Opt Out – that you can set online or via the NHS App – will not work to prohibit this data extraction for your GP record.
You need the Type 1 opt-out to do this.
You can opt back in to secondary uses, including GPDPR, at any time.
