Many patients will be aware of the proposed scheme the General Practice Data for Planning and Research whereby information from GP surgeries in England will be added to an NHS Digital database. This was planned to be from the 1st July but has now been delayed until the 1st September to allow patients more time to learn about the system.
Under the programme NHS Digital, the health service’s statistical and IT agency will collect information on surgery IT systems regarding the treatment, referrals to hospital and appointments people have had over the last 10 years . Also included are details of medication prescribed, diagnostic tests taken, gender, ethnicity, sexual orientation and information about a patients’ physical and mental health. It does not cover names and addresses – except for a postcode which is replaced by a unique code generated by de-identification software.
Patients can opt out of the scheme and were given until 23 June to exercise this right. A new deadline has not yet been announced following the postponement of the start date.
Further information on the scheme, including how to opt out, can be found via this link
