DATA ‘OPT OUT’ ONLY APPLIES TO NHS ENGLAND
You may be aware of NHS England’s current national data ‘opt out’ policy.
There has been a lot of publicity about patients ‘opting out’ of their confidential patient information being used for research and planning. This is commonly being referred to in the media as a ‘digital scrape’ or ‘data scrape’, which is the process of extracting information and importing it on to a spreadsheet or database.
We wish to reassure our local communities that what is being referred to ONLY APPLIES TO THE NHS ENGLAND SYSTEM. There is no equivalent automatic ‘opt-in’ system for Scotland, therefore there’s no corresponding need to ‘opt out’.
There is therefore no need to contact your local GP Practice to ‘opt out’ if you are registered with a GP Practice in Scotland.
