If you don’t want your NHS data being shared with researchers and companies outside of the health service then you’ll need to opt out.
The plans from NHS digital will see the information of 55million patients in England imported to a new database.
Data to be shared will include mental and sexual health histories, criminal records and sensitive information.
Your full address and any images or videos from tests or consultations will not be included.
Information about IVF treatment or gender reassignment surgery will also not be shared as this is legally restricted data.
The deadline to opt-out of the plan applies to those living in England and who are registered with a GP and is currently June 23, 2021.
By September 30, 2021, all health and care organisations are required to be compliant with the national data opt-out policy.
NHS Digital, which runs the country’s healthcare IT systems, claims the centralised database is needed because the current system used by GP surgeries, known as General Practice Extraction, is out-dated at over 10 years old.
But, what will be done with your information?
The NHS Digital site claims that this information will be used to "decide what new health and care services are required in a local area, informs clinical guidance and policy, and supports researching and developing cures for serious illnesses, such as heart disease, diabetes, and cancer."
It added that the information could be shared with university researchers, hospital researchers, medical royal college and pharmaceutical companies researching new treatments.
This means that records will be used for research and planning.
Plus, the site has shared a list of who is given the data that will be updated each month.
The NHS states that patient data is never used for insurance or marketing purposes, promoting or selling products or services, market research, or advertising.
Personal medical records will be anonymised to keep your identity secret.
But, the method to identify patients within the anonymised data will be held by the NHS and will be used whenever there is "a valid legal reason".
Responding to concerns about patient privacy, NHS Digital told the Guardian: “We have engaged with doctors, patients, data, privacy and ethics experts to design and build a better system for collecting this data.
“The data will only be used for health and care planning and research purposes, by organisations which can show they have an appropriate legal basis and a legitimate need to use it.”
The NHS website clearly states that it is not selling the data.
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So how do you opt-out?
Well, there are two types of opting out.
One requires you to head to the national data opt-out which is on the NHS Digital website, here.
It’s a simple form and will stop NHS Digital from passing information on.
But, if you want to prevent NHS Digital from taking your data in the first place you need to sign a Type 1 opt-out, which you can find links to on their website.
This form will need to be shared with your GP practice by post or email.
You can still opt-out after the project has begun, but the patient data shared before you registered the opt-out will still be held.
Speaking to Express.co.uk, a spokesperson for NHS Digital spokesperson said: "Patient data is already used every day to plan and improve healthcare services, for research that results in better treatments, and to save lives.
"During the pandemic, data from GPs has been used to benefit millions of us: helping to identify and protect those most vulnerable, roll out our world-leading vaccine programme, and identify hospital treatments, which have prevented people dying from covid.
"We have engaged with doctors, patients, data, privacy and ethics experts to design and build a better system for collecting this data. The data will only be used for health and care planning and research purposes, by organisations which can show they have an appropriate legal basis and a legitimate need to use it.
"We take our responsibility to safeguard patient data extremely seriously.
"Researchers wanting to access this data will need each request to be approved by the Independent Group Advising on the Release of Data (IGARD) and a GP Professional Advisory Group (PAG), with representatives from the British Medical Association and the Royal College of General Practitioners."
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