How Your Information Is Used

The following Privacy Notices explain why the GP practice collects information about you and how that information may be used.

The following leaflet also explains how your information is used.

Leaflet – How we use your information – V6 June 22

Your Data, Your Choice

You can choose whether your confidential patient information is used for research and planning. To find out more visit nhs.uk/your-nhs-data-matters.

You do not need to do anything if you are happy about how your confidential patient information is used. You can change your choice at any time.

Type 1 opt-out: medical records held at your GP practice

You can tell your GP practice if you do not want your confidential patient information held in your GP medical record to be used for purposes other than your individual care. This is commonly called a type 1 opt-out. This opt-out request can only be recorded by your GP practice.

Type 2 opt-out (National Data Opt-out): information held by NHS Digital

Previously you could tell your GP practice if you did not want us, NHS Digital, to share confidential patient information that we collect from across the health and care service for purposes other than your individual care. This was called a type 2 opt-out.

Detailed information for patients:

Sharing your records: your personal information

Information about you is used in a number of ways by the NHS and social care services to support your personal care and to improve health and social care services for everyone.

The Health and Social Care Information Centre (HSCIC) is the national NHS organisation with a legal responsibility to collect data as people make use of NHS and social care services. The data is used both at a local level and nationally to help with planning, managing your care, supporting research into new treatments, identifying trends and issues and so forth, and is used to try to make services better for all.

You can, however, choose not to have information about you shared or used for any purpose beyond providing your own treatment or care.

Your right to opt out

You can choose not to have anything that could identify you shared beyond your GP practice (Type 1 objection). You can also choose for the HSCIC not to share information it collects from all health providers any further (previously known as Type 2 objection, now National Data Opt-out).

If you have previously told your GP practice that you don’t want the HSCIC to share your personal confidential information for purposes other than your own care and treatment, your opt-out will have been implemented by the HSCIC from April 29 2016. It will remain in place unless you change it.

You can find more information about how the HSCIC handles your information and choices and how it manages your opt-out on the HSCIC website www.hscic.gov.uk/yourinfo

Further Information

For more information about this see the GP Practice Privacy Notice for General Practice Data for Planning and Research.

The following letter explains GPDfR in more detail and how you can opt out of sharing your data if you wish to:

GPDfPR letter to patients -June 2021

A pictorial diagram explaining the difference between a Type 1 Opt-out and a National Opt out can be found here:

GPDfR Opt-out Flowchart

The Type 1 Opt-out form is available here, please return the form to [email protected] or by post to any of our surgeries:

Type one Opt-out-Form