This unaltered story [1] was originally published on OpenDemocracy.org.

This unaltered story [1] was originally published on OpenDemocracy.org.
License [2]: Creative Commons 4.0 - Attributions/No Derivities/Int'l.
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Millions opt out of England’s health data-sharing plan

By: []

Date: 2021-09

More than 1.2 million people opted out of NHS GP data-sharing in just one month, following a number of privacy concerns raised by campaign groups and openDemocracy.

Under the proposed scheme, launched in May and officially called the General Practice Data for Planning and Research service, anyone registered with a GP in England could have potentially had their personal health data shared with private companies.

NHS Digital introduced the proposal with little publicity, giving GP patients a short, six-week window to opt out by 1 July. After a public outcry and legal threats from a coalition of civil society organisations, this deadline was initially extended to 1 September, and the scheme has now been put on hold indefinitely, according to a report in The Observer.

The data-sharing process was also initially set up to be irreversible – meaning that if people missed the deadline they could not then subsequently have their personal data deleted from the national database.

More than 23,000 people signed a petition in opposition to the GP data grab on the openDemocracy website alone.
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[1] Url: https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/ournhs/millions-opt-out-of-englands-health-data-sharing-plan/
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