Increasingly, patient medical data is shared e.g. between GP surgeries and District Nursing, in order to give clinicians access to the most up to date information when attending patients.

The systems we operate require that any sharing of medical information is consented to by patients beforehand. Patients must consent to sharing of the data held by a health provider out to other health providers and must also consent to which of the other providers can access their data.

e.g. it may be necessary to share data held in GP practices with district nurses but the local podiatry department would not need to see it to undertake their work. In this case, patients would allow the surgery to share their data, they would allow the district nurses to access it but they would not allow access by the podiatry department. In this way access to patient data is under patients' control and can be shared on a 'need to know' basis.

There is a Central NHS Computer System called the Emergency Care Summary (ECS). The Emergency Care Summary is meant to help emergency doctors and nurses help you when you contact them when the surgery is closed. It will contain information on your medications and allergies.

Your information will be extracted from practices such as ours and held securely on central NHS databases.   

As with all systems there are pros and cons to think about. When you speak to an emergency doctor you might overlook something that is important and if they have access to your medical record it might avoid mistakes or problems, although even then, you should be asked to give your consent each time a member of NHS Staff wishes to access your record, unless you are medically unable to do so.

On the other hand, you may have strong views about sharing your personal information and wish to keep your information at the level of this practice. If you don’t want an Emergency Care Summary to be made for you, tell your GP surgery. Don’t forget that if you do have an Emergency Care Summary, you will be asked if staff can look at it every time they need to. You don’t have to agree to this.

We have been asked to share the following important information with you. 

This practice is supporting vital health and care planning and research by sharing your data with NHS Digital. For more information about this see the GP Practice Privacy Notice for General Practice Data for Planning and Research." =

 

https://digital.nhs.uk/data-and-information/data-collections-and-data-sets/data-collections/general-practice-data-for-planning-and-research

 

This collection will start on 1 July 2021

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 23 June 2021.

 

What data is shared:

Data may be shared from the GP medical records about:

• any living patient registered at a GP practice in England when the collection started - this includes children and adults
• any patient who died after 1 July 2021, and was previously registered at a GP practice in England when the data collection started

NHS Digital will not collect patients’ names or addresses. 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.

This process is called pseudonymisation and means that patients will not be identified directly in the data. NHS Digital will be able to use the software to convert the unique codes back to data that could directly identify patients in certain circumstances, and where there is a valid legal reason.

If you would prefer that your identifiable patient data is only shared for your own health care purposes, you can opt-out by registering a Type 1 Opt-out or a National Data Opt-out, or both.

 These opt-outs are different and they are explained in more detail below. Your individual care will not be affected if you opt-out using either option (or both).

A Type 1 opt out has to be registered by your Practice; please let us know if you want to register a type 1 opt out.  

A National Opt out can be done without contacting your practice, at https://www.nhs.uk/your-nhs-data-matters/

 

 

 

 

 

Type 1 Opt-out (opting out of NHS Digital collecting your data)

NHSD will not collect data from GP practices about patients who have registered a Type 1 Opt-out with their practice. More information about Type 1 Opt-outs is in the GP Data for Planning and Research Transparency Notice, including a form that you can complete and send to your GP practice.

This collection will start on 1 July 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 23 June 2021.

If you register a Type 1 Opt-out after this collection has started, no more of your data will be shared with NHSD. They will however still hold the patient data which was shared before you registered the Type 1 Opt-out.

If you do not want NHS Digital to share your identifiable patient data with anyone else for purposes beyond your own care, then you can also register a National Data Opt-out.

National Data Opt-out (opting out of NHS Digital sharing your data with other organizations)

NHSD will collect data from GP medical records about patients who have registered a National Data Opt-out. The National Data Opt-out applies to identifiable patient data about your health, which is called confidential patient information.

NHS Digital won’t share any confidential patient information about you - this includes GP data, or other information, such as hospital data - with other organisations, unless there is an exemption to this.

To find out more information and how to register a National Data Opt-Out, please read NHSD GP Data for Planning and Research Transparency Notice.

= https://digital.nhs.uk/data-and-information/data-collections-and-data-sets/data-collections/general-practice-data-for-planning-and-research/transparency-notice

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

ALL MEMBERS OF THE HOUSEHOLD

The data held in your GP medical records is shared with other healthcare professionals for the purposes of your individual care. It can also be shared with other organisations to support health and care planning and research.

If you do not want your personally identifiable patient data to be shared outside of your GP practice for purposes except your own care, you can register an opt-out with your GP practice. This is known as a Type 1 Opt-out.

a National Data Opt-out which is not done at GP practice level; for this, you must contact NHS Digital - more information about the National Data Opt-out is here: https://www.nhs.uk/your-nhs-data-matters/

 

You can use this form to:

• register a Type 1 Opt-out, for yourself or for a dependent (if you are the parent or legal guardian of the patient) (to Opt-out)
• withdraw an existing Type 1 Opt-out, for yourself or a dependent (if you are the parent or legal guardian of the patient) if you have changed your preference (Opt-in)

This decision will not affect individual care and you can change your choice at any time, using this form. This form, once completed, should be sent to your GP practice by email or post.

 

 

 

Details of the patient

Title
Forename(s)
Surname
Address
Phone number
Date of birth
NHS Number (if known)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Details of parent or legal guardian

If you are filling in this form on behalf of a dependent e.g. a child, the GP practice will first check that you have the authority to do so.  Please complete the details below:

Name
Address
Relationship to patient

Your decision

Opt-out  

I do not allow my identifiable patient data to be shared outside of the GP practice for purposes except my own care.

Withdraw Opt-out (Opt back in))

I do allow my identifiable patient data to be shared outside of the GP practice for purposes beyond my own care.

Your declaration

I confirm that:

• the information I have given in this form is correct
• I am the parent or legal guardian of the dependent person I am making a choice for set out above (if applicable)

Signature

 

Date signed

 

When complete, please post or send by email to receptionists.longfurlong@nhs.net

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For GP Practice Use Only

Date received
Date applied
Tick to select the codes applied	Opt – Out - Dissent code: 9Nu0 (827241000000103 |Dissent from secondary use of general practitioner patient identifiable data (finding)|)
	Opt – In - Dissent withdrawal code: 9Nu1 (827261000000102 |Dissent withdrawn for secondary use of general practitioner patient identifiable data (finding)|)]