NHS Digital collects health information from the records health and social care providers keep about the care and treatment they give, to promote health or support improvements in the delivery of care services in England.

Our legal basis for sharing data with NHS Digital

NHS Digital has been legally directed to collect and analyse patient data from all GP practices in England to support the coronavirus response for the duration of the outbreak. NHS Digital will become the controller under the General Data Protection Regulation 2016 (GDPR) of the personal data collected and analysed jointly with the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, who has directed NHS Digital to collect and analyse this data under the COVID-19 Public Health Directions 2020 (COVID-19 Direction).

All GP practices in England are legally required to share data with NHS Digital for this purpose under the Health and Social Care Act 2012 (2012 Act). More information about this requirement is contained in the data provision notice issued by NHS Digital to GP practices.

Under GDPR our legal basis for sharing this personal data with NHS Digital is Article 6(1)(c) – legal obligation. Our legal basis for sharing personal data relating to health, is Article 9(2)(g) – substantial public interest, for the purposes of NHS Digital exercising its statutory functions under the COVID-19 Direction.

The type of personal data we are sharing with NHS Digital

The data being shared with NHS Digital will include information about patients who are currently registered with a GP practice or who have a date of death on or after 1 November 2019 whose record contains coded information relevant to coronavirus planning and research. The data contains NHS Number, postcode, address, surname, forename, sex, ethnicity, date of birth and date of death for those patients. It will also include coded health data which is held in your GP record such as details of:

•  diagnoses and findings
•  medications and other prescribed items
•  investigations, tests and results
•  treatments and outcomes
•  vaccinations and immunisations

How NHS Digital will use and share your data

NHS Digital will analyse the data they collect and securely and lawfully share data with other appropriate organisations, including health and care organisations, bodies engaged in disease surveillance and research organisations for coronavirus response purposes only. These purposes include protecting public health, planning and providing health, social care and public services, identifying coronavirus trends and risks to public health, monitoring and managing the outbreak and carrying out of vital coronavirus research and clinical trials. The British Medical Association, the Royal College of General Practitioners and the National Data Guardian are all supportive of this initiative.

NHS Digital has various legal powers to share data for purposes relating to the coronavirus response. It is also required to share data in certain circumstances set out in the COVID-19 Direction and to share confidential patient information to support the response under a legal notice issued to it by the Secretary of State under the Health Service (Control of Patient Information) Regulations 2002 (COPI Regulations).

Legal notices under the COPI Regulations have also been issued to other health and social care organisations requiring those organisations to process and share confidential patient information to respond to the coronavirus outbreak. Any information used or shared during the outbreak under these legal notices or the COPI Regulations will be limited to the period of the outbreak unless there is another legal basis for organisations to continue to use the information.

Data which is shared by NHS Digital will be subject to robust rules relating to privacy, security and confidentiality and only the minimum amount of data necessary to achieve the coronavirus purpose will be shared. Organisations using your data will also need to have a clear legal basis to do so and will enter into a data sharing agreement with NHS Digital. Information about the data that NHS Digital shares, including who with and for what purpose will be published in the NHS Digital data release register.

For more information about how NHS Digital will use your data please see the NHS Digital Transparency Notice for GP Data for Pandemic Planning and Research (COVID-19).

National Data Opt-Out

The application of the National Data Opt-Out to information shared by NHS Digital will be considered on a case by case basis and may or may not apply depending on the specific purposes for which the data is to be used. This is because during this period of emergency, the National Data Opt-Out will not generally apply where data is used to support the coronavirus outbreak, due to the public interest and legal requirements to share information.

Your rights over your personal data

To read more about the health and care information NHS Digital collects, its legal basis for collecting this information and what choices and rights you have in relation to the processing by NHS Digital of your personal data, see:

•  the NHS Digital Transparency Notice for GP Data for Pandemic Planning and Research (COVID-19)
•  the NHS Digital Coronavirus (COVID-19) Response Transparency Notice
•  the NHS Digital General Transparency Notice
•  how NHS Digital looks after your health and care information

The NHS App is a nationally run service that allows individuals to access a range of services within the Practice and beyond. NHS England and NHS Digital are joint data controllers of the NHS App and any personal data that is necessary for accessing the App. The data controller or processor of your personal data within a service accessed via the App will depend on the organisation accessed. Please see the NHS App privacy notice for further information

Opt-outs

You have a right to object to your information being shared.  Should you wish to opt out of data collection, please contact a member of staff who will be able to explain how you can opt out and prevent the sharing of your information; this is done by registering a Type 1 opt-out, preventing your information from being shared outside this Practice.

If you have previously opted-out of any data sharing arrangements, your opt-out I will continue to be valid.

NHS Digital want to collect

• data about diagnoses, symptoms, observations, test results, medications, allergies, immunisations, referrals, recalls and appointments, including information about physical, mental and sexual health
• data on sex, ethnicity and sexual orientation
• data about staff who have treated patients in a pseudonymised way (which is still personal data, as the data can be linked back.

Further information about General Practice Data for Planning and Research (GPDPR) and opting out can be found at NHS Digital

The NHS provides national screening programmes so that certain diseases can be detected at an early stage. These currently apply to bowel cancer, breast cancer, aortic aneurysms and diabetic retinal screening service. The law allows us to share your contact information with Public Health England so that you can be invited to the relevant screening programme.

More information can be found at: Population screening programmes, or if you prefer please contact the Practice. Please contact the Practice if you do not wish to participate in any National Screening programmes offered.

National Registries (such as the Learning Disabilities Register) have statutory permission under Section 251 of the NHS Act 2006, to collect and hold service user identifiable information without the need to seek informed consent from each individual service user.

The use of data by the Cabinet Office for data matching is carried out with statutory authority under Part 6 of the Local Audit and Accountability Act 2014. It does not require the consent of the individuals concerned under the Data Protection Act 2018. Data matching by the Cabinet Office is subject to a Code of Practice. For further information see UK Government publications code of data.

If you provide us with your mobile phone number, we may use this to send you reminders about any appointments or other health screening information being carried out. This may be by telephone call or SMS text messaging, ( if this service is available). Please contact the reception if you wish to ‘opt-out’ of this service and this information will be added to your records.

CCG’s and some GP Federations operate Pharmacist and prescribing advice services to support local GP practices with prescribing queries, which may require identifiable information to be shared. These Pharmacists work with your usual GP to provide advice on medicines and prescribing queries, and review prescribing of medicines to ensure that it is appropriate for your needs, is safe and also cost-effective. Where specialist prescribing support is required, the CCG Medicines Management Team may order medications on behalf of your GP Practice to support your care.

Supporting Locally Commissioned Services, CCGs support GP Practices by auditing anonymised data to monitor locally commissioned services, measure prevalence and support data quality. The data does not include identifiable information.

GDPR requires that the information we hold about you is accurate and current. We rely on our patients to tell us if they have moved house, or had medical treatment abroad. For our part, we will update your medical records at each consultation with a doctor or a nurse (either face to face, or by telephone), and with any relevant information we receive from hospital, community or social services providers (e.g. new diagnoses, change in circumstances).