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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From 25 May 2018 the type 2 opt-out has been replaced by the national data opt-out.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.