Researchers could soon access GP patient data—how will it work?
Nearly 18 months after NHS England announced its intention to allow scientists to analyse general practice data for research, the scheme finally looks set to go ahead. Elisabeth Mahase examines how it will work and whether privacy concerns have been met NHS England has said that it is actively working with GPs’ leaders to prepare for sharing of GP patient data, through the OpenSAFELY system, with select researchers. This could potentially happen within months. Deidentified patient data from general practices in Scotland and Wales are available for research, but this is largely not the case in England. However, an exception has been made in recent years in relation to covid-19. Early in the pandemic the government issued a “control of patient information” (COPI) notice, which gave researchers access to deidentified patient data, but only for covid-19 research.1 OpenSAFELY is a software platform that enables researchers to analyse electronic health record data in England, including GP pa
