Concerns are being raised over UK government proposals to extend emergency powers introduced during the pandemic, giving it access to patient data held by general practitioners (GPs).
The government has decided to put in place a plan “omitting the expiry date contained within” emergency COVID powers and “to make a consequential amendment to the review provision”, with the aim of “establishing and operating information systems to collect and analyse data in connection with COVID-19.”
The instructions were sent in February [PDF] to Simon Bolton, then interim chief executive of NHS Digital, by Simon Madden, director of data policy at NHSX, and signed by the Secretary of State.
