Activists have threatened to sue the government over controversial plans to share GP data with third parties.
In a letter sent Thursday, privacy campaigners accused Matt Hancock of rushing through the ‘unlawful’ plans without giving patients a proper chance to opt out.
But the NHS says the new rules will update and simplify a decade-old system for requesting GP data.
From 1st July, tech body NHS Digital will be able to scrape patient data, including mental and sexual health data and other sensitive information, from all GP practices across England.
Researchers and other third parties, including companies, will be able to request the data from NHS Digital for a fee.
Patient names and addresses, as well as details about certain medical procedures like IVF, will not be shared.
Other identifying information, such as NHS numbers, will be ‘pseudonymised’. This means third parties shouldn’t be able to tell who any patient data refers to.
But…
