Previously there were two ways in which a patient could opt out of sharing their personal information:
- A type 1 opt out prevents information being shared outside a GP practice for purposes other than direct care.
- A type 2 opt out prevented information being shared outside NHS Digital for purposes beyond the individual's direct care.
From 25 May 2018 the type 2 opt-out has been replaced by the national data opt-out.
Type 2 opt-outs that were recorded on or before 11 October 2018 have been automatically converted to national data opt-outs.
Read more about the collection and conversion of type 2 opt-outs.
This report contains information on the number of patient type 2 opt outs as a percentage of patients registered at Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs) in England where patient opt-out information has been received from GP practices.
No data relating to type 1 opt-outs are included in this report. Information on the number of type 1 opt-outs received are available in the main care information choices publications.
We collected and published data about how many people have registered a type 1 or type 2 opt-out to monitor levels of opt-outs by GP Practice and to help our customers understand the potential implications of type 2 opt-outs on the data that they received.
We published this information because the Department of Health, on behalf of the Secretary of State, directed NHS Digital to apply type 2 opt-outs, and to monitor the rate of patient opt-outs, as recommended by the 2013 Caldicott Review.
Patients could also use it to ensure their GP practice was providing data as part of this collection to enable their type 2 opt-out to be applied by NHS Digital.
We published this information four times a year.
Learn more about your personal information choices.
Further information
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internal Care Information Choices
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external
[MI] National Data Opt-Out
For statistics on national data opt-outs from 25 May 2018.