Keeping data safe and benefitting the public

NHS Digital collects, processes, and works with your health data. We protect patient data, keep it secure, and only use it for authorised purposes.

How we look after your health and care information

Understanding the information we hold about you, what it's used for, and your choices.

Understanding the health and care information we collect

Information about you and your health is recorded when you receive health care or social care, to help with your care and treatment. This is what most people call your medical records.

What we collect, and why

Your choices on information we hold about you

Where we collect and use information that could identify you, you can make certain choices, including whether to opt out of sharing your confidential patient information.

Your rights and choices

Your data

NHS Digital collects, processes, and works with your health data. We protect patient data, keep it secure, and only use it for authorised purposes.

How we protect your data

Data points blog

Our experts explain how we are using data to drive research and improve NHS and care services.

Hear from our experts

Protecting your data

We are the guardians of patient data, making sure it's protected, and only ever used for the good of health and care. We advise health and care on cyber and data security.

Cyber and data security

We protect our NHS from cyber attacks and we monitor for new threats 24 hours a day. Our teams support organisations across the NHS with advice, assessments, and training.

See our alerts and services

General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) - information

How we've ensured compliance with data protection law, to make sure health and care data is always collected, stored, analysed and shared securely and legally.

GDPR compliance

NHS Digital's legal right to collect information

Explaining why we are legally allowed to collect health and care information.

Our legal right to collect data

Transparency notice: how we use your personal data

How we use personal data, in line with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), including a register of processing activities, and your rights.

See our GDPR register

Data security and information governance

A-Z of data security and information governance resources

NHS Digital offers guidance on protecting data and handling information securely. Our guidance is designed to help health and care organisations meet the standards required to handle care information.

Browse our A-Z

Our research

Public attitudes to data in the NHS and social care

This research examines public attitudes to data in health and social care. The focus of the research was on segmenting the public based on attitudes and behaviours. This will help us to better understand how we can address different attitudes and needs in our national public engagement on data.

Public attitudes to data

Governing requests for data

Advisory Group for Data (AGD)

NHS England takes the importance of information governance very seriously. The Advisory Group for Data (AGD) provides oversight of NHS England's processes to ensure they are appropriate for governing the receipt, processing and publication of data that does not compromise confidentiality and maximises the use of information.

Advisory Group for Data (AGD)

Last edited: 4 June 2024 11:19 am

Keeping data safe and benefitting the public

How we look after your health and care information

Understanding the health and care information we collect

Your choices on information we hold about you

Your data

Data points blog

Protecting your data

Cyber and data security

General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) - information

NHS Digital's legal right to collect information

Transparency notice: how we use your personal data

Data security and information governance

A-Z of data security and information governance resources

Our research

Public attitudes to data in the NHS and social care​

Governing requests for data

Advisory Group for Data (AGD)

Public attitudes to data in the NHS and social care