Following the negative backlash to the announcements around GP data extraction from both general practice and patients earlier this year, the Government has issued a carefully worded statement to try and reassure general practice that their concerns have been heard.
The statement removes any specific date for the data extraction to start. Importantly the September 1st deadline for patients to opt-out has been dropped.
Included in the letter is a series of tests that must be met before any extraction begins and a Trusted Research Environment (TRE) has been created. The TRE will be “…built in line with best practice developed in projects, such as OpenSAFELY and the Office for National Statistics’ Secure Research Service.”
The Government promises to “…ensure that the BMA, RCGP and the National Data Guardian have oversight of the proposed arrangements and are satisfied with them before data upload begins.”
Possibly providing some reassurance to overstretched practice managers and admin teams is the section on administrative workload.