Alan Rector believes NHS data is a major resource for medical research, but the scheme needs safeguards. Plus letters from Irene Stratton, Alison Macfarlane, Robert Oulton and Celia Berridge
Thank you for your report highlighting the government’s grab of GPs’ data (GPs warn over plans to share patient data with third parties in England, 30 May) and the accompanying editorial (The Guardian view on medical records: NHS data grab needs explaining, 30 May). There are even more issues than you cite.
First, the government’s website is disingenuous and misleading. At the top it says patients can opt out at any time; at the bottom it says that when opting out, all existing information will be retained – only new information will not be collected. It states that there is no deadline, but if you opt out after your records have been uploaded, the existing information will not be deleted.
