NHS Data-Sharing Programme Set For Pilot

The government’s controversial NHS data-sharing programme, care.data, is to move ahead with a pilot programme involving six clinical commissioning groups in four areas of England.

The scheme, which will see GP and hospital data stored and exchanged within the NHS as well as possibly with third parties, was put on hold for six months earlier this year over privacy concerns from patient rights groups.

Pilot programme

However NHS England has now said that care.data is now set to move forward, with Hampshire, Lancashire’s Blackburn and Darwen, Leeds and Somerset to run pilot programmes. A shortlist of the 265 GP practices in these areas is to be announced “in due course”, the NHS said.

The four areas were selected by a panel including members from the British Medical Association (BMA) and voluntary sector partners.

Tim Kelsey, NHS England National Director for Patients and Information, said the NHS has heard the public’s concerns “loud and clear”.

“We need to be clearer about the care.data programme and that we need to provide more support to GPs to communicate the benefits and the risks of data sharing with their patients, including their right to opt out,” he said in a statement.

Privacy

Pressure group Med Confidential said its confidentiality concerns remain unchanged.

“NHS England cannot fudge what it says to doctors and patients, or it risks another crisis of confidence. We look forward to reading what NHS England is actually proposing,” the group said in a statement.

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