The medical records of NHS England’s 61 million users are set to be gathered in a new centralised database as part of a new scheme called the General Practice Data for Planning and Research (GPDPR). NHS Digital all the data will be used to: inform and develop health and social care policy, plan and commission health and care services, take steps to protect public health such as managing the Covid-19 pandemic, enable research, and provide individual care in exceptional cases.
The database will not include names or addresses, or any other data that could directly identify a patient like their NHS number, date of birth, or postcode. NHS Digital will allow the information to remain confidential when it’s accessed by third parties within the healthcare industry. The data will only be accessible to organisations with a legitimate need for it who match up to stringent criteria, and that the database will never be used for insurance or marketing purposes, promoting or selling products or services, market research or advertising.
The information set to be included in the database includes data about: sex, ethnicity, sexual orientation, diagnoses, symptoms, observations, test results, medications, allergies, immunisations, referrals, recalls and appointments, including information about physical,