The National Data Opt-out Programme Overview

The National Data Opt-out Programme is the result of the review Data Security, Consent and Opt-out published by the National Data Guardian (NDG), Dame Fiona Caldicott. As part of the review, it was suggested that the public should be able to make informed choices on how their data is shared.

The government responded to the NDG review with Your Data: Better Security, Better Choice, Better Care which has led to the inception of the National Data Opt-out Programme, for which NHS Digital is developing a system that will provide patients with the ability to control how their personally identifiable data is used.

NHS Digital will provide an online application that will allow patients to choose if they wish to only allow their personally identifiable data used for their care and treatment, or if they wish to allow their data to be shared with other healthcare organisations for planning and research purposes. Additional mechanisms for setting opt-out preferences will be provided along side the online application.

The Rollout of the National Data opt-out is expected to commence in March 2018.

Further information on the NHS Digital involvement can be found at the National Data Opt-out Programme