GP prescribing data may be published

The government is to look at publishing GP practice level prescribing data and outlined plans to set up a health research data service.

The proposals are set out in the government’s Plan for Growth document published after last week’s Budget.

Both the BMA and RCGP have warned that publication of GP practice level data could put patient confidentiality at risk but the government has already instructed the NHS Information Centre to investigate the plan.

An NHS information Centre spokesperson told EHI Primary Care: “The NHS Information Centre will be carrying out an evaluation and impact assessment about the wider release of primary care prescribing data on behalf of Government. This follows the Department of Health’s consultation on information (Liberating the NHS – an Information Revolution) and is part of the wider agenda aimed at increasing transparency across the public sector while protecting patient confidentiality.”

A discussion document published by the Information Centre two years ago suggested that the potential benefits of publication of practice level data outside the NHS might include better presentation of data from commercial informatics companies although it acknowledged this would be at a cost to the NHS. Risks identified included the production of misleading information and the potential identification of patients being treated for rare conditions.

Last week Dr Clare Gerada, chair of the RCGP, told a Westminster Health Forum event: “We get our data annually right down to GP level but I wouldn’t propose making that data widely public. It is identifiable, certainly with very rare medication and it is meaningless unless you understand the context it’s made in.”

The Treasury’s Plan for Growth document outlines the government’s strategy for economic growth included its proposals for encouraging growth in the healthcare and life sciences sector.

It says the NHS could offer unique opportunities for the UK’s international competitiveness in health research and says the government will build a consensus on using electronic health record data in health research.

The document adds: “The government can create the capacity to draw on the power of large linked data sets on a scale unprecedented here on elsewhere in the world.”

It goes on to say that this would include “more powerful use of anonymised data sets and aggregated prescription data linked down to GP practice level” and adds that it could only happen if there was robust protection for individual patients’ confidentiality and privacy.

The document says the government will work with the National Information Governance Board for Health and Social Care and partners in the public and private sectors to publish plans by the autumn for a secure data service “focused on linking the data sets which do most to strengthen the international competitiveness of our life sciences research”.