Many patients have expressed concern over the extraction of data by NHS Digital. A new system was scheduled to take place on the 1^st September but has now been postponed without a date being set for when it will take place. This is to allow NHS England and the government to make changes in the light of concerns that have been expressed and to engage with patients and doctors.

This information is important to the country and has been used to plan the response to the Covid 19 pandemic, including the vaccine roll-out and to understand how to support patients suffering from ‘long Covid’.

However, the new data extraction will only now take place, when;

• You, as a patients have the means to delete your data from a data upload, even after a data collection has taken place. You will be also able to opt-out from any future collections. The way that you will do this is being made more simple.
• The present back-log of opt-outs expressed by patients, whether at practice level or on-line ( with NHS Digital) have been cleared.
• A “Trusted Research Environment” has been developed and implemented within NHS Digital itself.

This mean that the data collected will only be accessed within this environment and that it will not be able to be copied or transported outside of the environment. Data can only be copied and transferred outside of this secure environment, if you, as a patient have given your explicit consent; e.g. for a specific research study.

NHS Digital promises that:

• The data extraction will continue to be both pseudonymised, i.e. the data identifyingyou as you does not reach NHS Digital and will be encrypted by GP System suppliers.
• Wants to improve its communications:
  1. By continuing to listen to patients and other stakeholders,
  2. Will consult via series of events that aim to explain the programme and engage in co-design with stakeholders as to how the programme will move forward.
  3. Will demonstrate howpublic feedback is being used to shape how the data is collected and how the data informs research and planning across the NHS

Jo Churchill, the under-secretary of State for Primary Care promises that:

“Once the data is collected, it will only be used for the purposes of improving health and care. Patient data is not for sale and never will be for sale.”

The full text of his letter is available here as a PDF.

Happening Thursday 1st April - please share with your patients and residents 

Details below!

Please note we are still looking for any clinicians or healthcare professionals (GPs, Practice Nurses, etc.) who are willing to participate and can speak any of the below languages - Punjabi especially. If you are interested in supporting this event please email cahccg.comms@nhs.net.

https://generalpracticebulletin.cmail20.com/t/d-l-chdyhht-jujldyikir-d/ 

Dear patients we have started our flu clinics by appointment only. You will be sent a text invite to your mobile phone to call the surgery to book your appointment in the next few weeks.

The following patients will be contacted:

Diabetics

Heart Disease

Stroke and neurological disease

Kidney Disease

COPD

Severe Asthma

Patients who were shielding

Over 65 year olds

Carers

Learning Disability

If you are not in one of these groups but feel you should be invited please call the surgery who will advise. Also if you are in one of the above groups and do not receive an invitation please call the surgery.

Please note healthy 50 to 64 year olds will be invited after October pending NHS guidance.

Coronavirus-Covid-19 social Distancing Using The NHS and other Health Services/

Please click on the link below for information on stopping smoking and the local Hackney stop smoking services:

www.smokefreehackney.org