Information sharing between private health care services and NHS England for patients and service users

NHS England might ask your private health or care organisation to share your personal information with them. This is because NHS England is required by law to collect information about care in NHS and private hospitals, hospices, clinics, care homes and dental practices.

The information helps NHS England to understand things like:

• the quality of health and care services
• the safety of health and care services
• if people have had any health problems after being treated

By understanding this information, NHS England can improve health and care services for patients and service users.

If you have received care from a private health or care organisation, they may share information about you with NHS England. This includes:

• personal details such as your NHS number, name and postcode
• details of the private healthcare professional who treated you
• sensitive information about you from your patient record, such as your health information, the treatment you received or your ethnicity

Which information is shared depends on the specific request from NHS England. If it is not needed, NHS England will not request it.

Some types of information are never shared with NHS England. These include:

• information about an application for a Gender Recognition Certificate, or what your gender was before you received one
• information about certain fertility treatments

Staff providing you with your private healthcare must carefully check the information that NHS England has requested and remove this information before it is sent.

Depending on the private healthcare services you receive, you may be able to opt out of your information being shared with NHS England.

If you are unsure whether your service is privately funded or paid for by the NHS, you can ask your private healthcare organisation.

Your healthcare organisation will not specifically tell you about each information request NHS England makes. However, you can read your private healthcare organisation’s privacy notice to find out whether information is being shared with NHS England and what choices you can make for opting out.

The privacy notice for the healthcare organisation should be available on their website and you can also request a paper copy. This should include the contact details for the organisation’s data protection officer, who you can ask for more information if you need it.

Your private healthcare organisation must:

• only share the specific information that is needed for the request
• send information in a secure way
• be clear about information they are sharing in their privacy notice

Your private healthcare organisation must handle your information appropriately, securely and lawfully when responding to information requests from NHS England.