You have until June 23 to stop the NHS sharing your medical records with outside third parties.

HiTecK

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If you live in England, you have until June 23 to opt out of your data being included in a ‘digital scrape’ by the NHS, which it will share with third parties.

Privacy campaigners have harshly criticised the plans of NHS Digital, which will see the medical histories of more than 55 million patients ported into a database, including mental and sexual health data, criminal records and more sensitive information.

The records will be scraped from every patient in England registered to a GP clinic by NHS Digital, which runs the country’s healthcare IT systems.

The data will reportedly be available to both academic and commercial third parties for research and planning purposes. Though NHS Digital publishes a monthly list of who it shares its data with, campaigners have said it will be difficult to find out who ultimately sees the data, due to the NHS’ ‘opaque’ commercial relationships.

To opt out click HERE.

Read more.
 
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Yes, very concerning, I've been wondering for a while if NHS Scotland have similar plans to share patient data with third parties but can't find any information on this,
maybe they already do, but unlike NHS England haven't bothered telling anyone about it, which would be the Scottish government way.

Concerning because I just don't trust the government to care for people's privacy, there's been so many examples recently of data and confidentiality breaches of the government's handling of data. I've been
listening to some experts on this handling of data, and they reckon we need new legislation such as a digital data constitution to protect people's digital identity & private data.
 
If you live in England, you have until June 23 to opt out of your data being included in a ‘digital scrape’ by the NHS, which it will share with third parties.

Privacy campaigners have harshly criticised the plans of NHS Digital, which will see the medical histories of more than 55 million patients ported into a database, including mental and sexual health data, criminal records and more sensitive information.

The records will be scraped from every patient in England registered to a GP clinic by NHS Digital, which runs the country’s healthcare IT systems.

The data will reportedly be available to both academic and commercial third parties for research and planning purposes. Though NHS Digital publishes a monthly list of who it shares its data with, campaigners have said it will be difficult to find out who ultimately sees the data, due to the NHS’ ‘opaque’ commercial relationships.

Read more.
Most intriguing, how do I opt out then?
 
if you opt out, would that mean you could not use the NHS app to confirm your vaccine record etc if that is requires as vaccine passport for travel etc
 
if you opt out, would that mean you could not use the NHS app to confirm your vaccine record etc if that is requires as vaccine passport for travel etc

I shouldn't think so, the "opting out" is to stop the NHS England sharing your medical data with third parties (non NHS companies).
I'm sure I've read that the NHS App is owned by NHS, so presumably they'll share your vaccination status to you, and of course it will be up to you
whether you share that specific data with third parties.

Just my opinion though, but how I think it will be looked upon.
 
I shouldn't think so, the "opting out" is to stop the NHS England sharing your medical data with third parties (non NHS companies).
I'm sure I've read that the NHS App is owned by NHS, so presumably they'll share your vaccination status to you, and of course it will be up to you
whether you share that specific data with third parties.

Just my opinion though, but how I think it will be looked upon.
That's the way I understand it
 
It’s amazing how the philosophy is changing and our fundamental rights are slowly being eroded, everything now seems to be going down the “opt out” route the same as organ donations. Don’t get me wrong if someone can benefit from any of my organs when I’m gone good luck to them. However I guess they have decided if the majority of the population can’t be bothered opting into these type of schemes there’s a fair chance they won’t bother opting out.
 
Don't know if this link will work here, but an interview with a GP where he expresses his concern over the sharing of private data and how in his opinion
people are not being informed of their right to opt out. I have to agree, something as important as this to require a letter sent out to every person
advising them of their right to opt out, costing several £million

The Doctor raises other points in that this data is worth a lot of money to private health care firms.

Here's link
[Tower Hamlets GPs to withhold patient data over PRIVACY concerns!
 
I don't know if people are aware, as well as submitting your opt-out preference online, you also have to submit a form to your GP practice. This is more important than submitting your preference online. See link below, as this must be done by 23/06/21. It will give you a link to the form.

How to opt out | medConfidential
 
There is some real privacy concerns around this. Your data will be shared but it will be anonymous so cannot be linked to your name and address. Although this is the case, there has been some privacy questions been asked and left unanswered I believe but yet it is still going ahead. There was something on BBC news about this the other day also and they had concerns. Your data is still shared throughout the UK for NHS even if you opt out as it is now unless you opted out for this years back. You do need to fill a form in and email it to your GP. I will be doing this myself this week for the whole family and opting out.
 
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