NHS data injection: will it hurt?

There’s little data more sensitive than your medical records. This is perhaps why numerous viral social media posts have sought to raise the alarm: the NHS is planning to share our data, we’re told, and therefore we should opt out of the new system before it’s too late.

Is it time to worry? What’s actually going to happen to our data? We spoke to both sides of the debate to disentangle the controversy.

■ The reality of the plans

Let’s start with what the new system is intended for: NHS “research and planning”. Doctors are already allowed to share your data if it is for the direct purpose of providing you with care, as that’s how the medical system functions. Research and planning, on the other hand, is about giving scientists real-world data to analyse, and NHS managers information on how resources are