Opt out of the NHS data grab – while you still can
A suspicious silence and lack of public debates has surrounded what appears to be a momentous decision by the government. They intend to transfer all the GP medical history of every patient in England to one NHS digital repository, where said data can be analyzed and shared with third-parties.
Officially, the move is intended to support research for medical or other purposes and is privacy-preserving. In practice, as summarized by an authoritative letter in the Guardian, it is likely to be neither, at least not in the long run.
Few of us were able to hear about it, let alone given a choice to opt into the service. But at least we are allowed to opt out from sharing non-GP data, and send a letter to the GP asking them not to share their data, as explained here by medConfidential.
The deadline to opt out is September the 1st, and one can always opt in at a later date.