Earlier this year the Dept of Health in England announced plans to undertake a mass data extraction from GP records as part of their “General Practice Data for Planning and Research” (GPDPR) programme. As of 1st July 2021, pseudonymised data would be collected by NHS digital, although they would retain the ability to reidentify the data if they had a valid reason to do so. Patients were initially given until 23rd June 2021 to submit a type 1 opt out form to their GP to avoid their data being shared. Due to concerns raised by privacy groups that patients were not given enough time to make an informed decision the Westminster Government has postponded the extraction until 1st Sept 2021 to allow patients more time to consider this.
This will not affect patients in NHS Scotland as health is devolved and NHS digital have no jurisdiction in Scotland therefore no NHS Scotland patient data will be shared with NHS Digital. Any patient registered with a GP in Scotland will not require to opt out as there data is held separately within NHS Scotland Systems.
Patient Notice
We would like to reassure our patients that the proposed extraction of GP data by NHS Digital does not include any patients registered with this practice or in NHS Scotland. NHS Digital provide services in England so are not able to access any data held in Scotland. You are not required to opt out as your data is already safe. We take patient confidentiality extremely seriously and safeguards are in place to protect this, including when data is used for research.
Further information on how NHS Scotland handles your personal information is on the NHS inform website.
If you would like to discuss this further please Contact Marina Baillie, Practice Manager.