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Written question asked by Lord Hunt of Kings Heath (Labour) on Tuesday, 7 March 2023, in the House of Lords. It was due for an answer on Tuesday, 21 March 2023. It was answered by Lord Markham (Conservative) on Monday, 20 March 2023 on behalf of the Department of Health and Social Care.

NHS Digital: Data Protection

Question

To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Markham on 6 March (HL5675), which dataset(s) was the source of the SNOMED CT codes and dates shared; and why unprotected NHS numbers and unprotected dates of birth were included.

Answer

Cohorting as a Service uses SNOMED CT Codes from general practitioner (GP) practice extracts, with data being collected using the General Practice Extraction service. This collection is supported by the British Medical Association, Royal College of General Practitioners and National Data Guardian, and collects a specific set of patient data from GP practices in England on a fortnightly basis.

The data includes personally identifiable information such as National Health Service number and date of birth because the information is required for delivering direct care. The NHS England vaccination programme uses the information to identify and contact patients who fall within clinically ‘at-risk’ groups within an age group.

The Secretary of State or NHS England issue Directions for information collection, then approval for collection is obtained, confirming that the Information Standard, Collection or Extraction has been through assessment and is demonstrated to meet the quality assurance criteria set by the Data Alliance Partnership Board.

Secondary information

Type
Written question
Reference
HL6196
Session
2022-23
Related items
NHS Digital: Data Protection
Monday, 6 March 2023
Written questions
House of Lords
Subjects
Data protection Databases Medical records NHS Digital
Link
View this Written question on www.parliament.uk