Data protection concerns over NHS Digital merger

National Data Guardian Nicola Byrne has voiced concerns about the implications for data following the merger of NHS England and NHS Digital, which is expected to be completed over the coming weeks.

Draft guidelines have been published setting out (the new) NHS England's data-protection obligations, which are intended to ensure at least the same degree of protection, safeguards and transparency over data use as NHS Digital provided.

However, in an interview with Health Service Journal, Dr Byrne remarked that there is “an inherent tension in having one organisation be both data custodian and the organisation seeking to access the data”.

In May last year, former NHS Digital Chair Kingsley Manning wrote to The BMJ calling its merger with NHS England a "significant retrograde step in defending the rights of citizens with respect to the collection and use of their health data" and warning that it had "the potential for undermining the relationship between clinicians and their patients".

Formed in 2005, NHS Digital ran systems including Spine for the NHS and was also responsible for the Electronic Prescription Service, the Summary Care Record, e-referral service, and the Child Protection Information Sharing System. It created the NHS App and was heavily involved in the creation of the NHS Covid-19 app.

Dr Byrne has a 20 year background working in mental health, and is a consultant psychiatrist at South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust. Prior to becoming National Data Guardian, she held positions as the trust’s Deputy Medical Director, Caldicott Guardian and Chief Clinical Information Officer.