Medical Research Data Collection (Thin)

The staff at this practice record information about you and your health so that you can receive the right care and treatment. We need to record this information, together with the details of the care you receive, because it may be needed if we see you again.

We may use some of this information for other reasons, for example, to help us to protect the health of the general public generally, to plan for the future, to train staff and to carry out medical and other health research for the benefit of everyone

A doctor writing on a clipboard

We are currently involved in research studies for which we provide anonymised information from patients' notes. The risk of you being identified from this information is extremely low as all directly identifiable details (name, address, postcode, NHS number, full date of birth) are removed from your notes before they are collected for research, and automatic programs to de-personalise any free text ( non structured or coded data) are run after information is collected. Individual patients' records are added into a much larger anonymous database, containing records from millions of patients across the UK. This information is used by researchers outside this practice. The database to which we contribute anonymised records is know as The Health Improvement Network (THIN). This data may be anonymously linked to other data, such as hospital data. This database is managed by a company outside the NHS which does not have access to your personal details, only to anonymous medical records. The data are used for research into such topics as drug safety, disease patterns, prescribing patterns, health economics and public health. Many of these studies provide useful information to medical staff on diseases, the use of drugs or outcomes of disease or treatment.

These studies may be performed by academic researchers or commercial companies amongst others. However, no researcher has access to your full details such as your name and address , initials or your full date of birth. The researchers are not given information about the GP nor the practice name, address or post code.

If you would like to opt-out, you will need to record a national data opt-out that offers you a new way to prevent your confidential patient information from being used for research and planning. You can also find out more about the national data opt-out online at: Your NHS Data Matters.

Unfortunately, the national data opt-out cannot be set by the GP surgery, you can instead record your opt-out on line following the link above or by contacting: 0300 303 5678.

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