From this date patients and public in England have the constitutional right to opt out of their personal confidential information being shared by NHS Digital for purposes other than their own individual care:
"You have the right to request that your confidential information is not used beyond your own care and treatment and to have your objections considered".
Download the NHS Constitution for England.
Unlike the previous type 2 patient opt-outs which applies to data released by NHS Digital, the national data opt-out will, in time, apply to the data released by any health and care organisation.
As part of the data application process, we will confirm whether the data requested will have opt-outs removed. The consideration of whether opt-outs are removed is dependent upon the data being requested, the purpose and the legal basis under which those data are released.
NHS Digital is committed to supporting a patient's wishes and makes sure that national data opt-outs are applied. Read more about your personal information choices.
Please note that from 29 April 2016 NHS Digital has been applying type 2 patient opt-outs to data it releases. All existing type 2 patient opt-outs will now be migrated to become a national data opt-out.