National data opt-out checker app

Many of the national clinical audits rely on section 251 to meet the Common Law Duty of Confidentiality, meaning the national data opt-out must be applied.

For audit data that is submitted as a batch file, organisations’ information teams can check against a list of patients who have not opted out before sending off the file.

However, as  many of these audits are entered directly on a case-by-case basis, using the MESH Check for national data opt-outs service each time is not practical. University Hospitals Plymouth NHS Trust has developed a simple tool (in the form of an app) to help their staff apply the opt-out to these types of audits, which they have made available to be used more widely.

NHSX have confirmed that health and care organisations can use this app to apply the national data opt-out to clinical audit submissions relying on section 251 for their legal basis.

Regularly submit the NHS numbers of your entire cohort of patients through the MESH Check for national data opt-outs service, to get back a list of patients, with those who have an opt-out registered removed.

Store this in a data warehouse and set the app up to query this list. Staff can then use the app to confirm that a patient has not opted-out, before submitting their details to the clinical audit.

Go to the NDO checker app tool site to find out more.