General Practice Data News Today

As NHS England prepares to announce the winner of the £480 million contract to deliver the new Federated Data Platform (FDP), legal groups and data privacy activists are focusing on the national data opt-out and its future status. The FDP project has been mired in controversy due to questions about its cost, purpose, a lack of transparency over the tender process and special concerns about the incumbent provider and presumed leading bidder, US data analytics giant Palantir, in partnership with...

<strong>Letters: </strong>People are happy for their health data to be used for beneficial purposes, but remain worried about government plans, according to <strong>Dr Catherine Bowden </strong>and<strong> Prof Sarah Devaney</strong>

<strong>The long read</strong>: The government is about to award a £480m contract to build a vast new database of patient data. But if people don’t trust it, they’ll opt out – I know, because I felt I had to

Dr Nicola Byrne, National Data Guardian, emphasised transparent communication and trust-building in the NHS Federated Data Platform, urging public engagement to prevent setbacks and ensure progress.

People talk to their doctors in confidence, expecting the details they share about their weight, alcohol use, terminations of pregnancy, or thoughts of suicide to remain in the consulting room. They also assume that if they need emergency care in another part of the health system the details of their past operations, current medicines, and allergies will be available to the doctors treating them. Although many patients are happy for their medical information to be used for a wide variety of purp...

Meanwhile a group prepares to sue NHS England over lack of transparency over £480m data platform contract widely expected to go to Palantir

It says a policy document from June answers relevant questions about trust in healthcare data.

The National Data Guardian shares her views on the governments new health and care data strategy: Data Saves Lives: Reshaping Health and Social Care with Data.

Government publishes a revised data in health strategy, with an emphasis firmly on preserving the integrity and privacy of patients’ confidential information.

Professor Ben Goldacre said he had concerns about the deanonymisation of data