COVID-19 Ethnic Category Dataset

The Secretary of State for Health and Social Care has directed NHS England to collect and analyse data in connection with COVID-19 to support the Secretary of State’s response to COVID-19 and to support various COVID-19 purposes set out in the COVID-19 Public Health Directions 2020 (COVID-19 Directions). This enables NHS England to collect and analyse the data and link it, for COVID-19 purposes, with other data held by NHS England.

Data on ethnicity is considered of particular interest in relation to the COVID-19 pandemic as it can be used to reduce health inequalities and enable commissioners of health and care services to target interventions where they are needed.

In order to provide the best available data for people in England, NHS England created a small, stand-alone dataset called the COVID-19 Ethnic Category Dataset. This combines data from the General Practice Extraction Service (GPES) Data for Pandemic Planning and Research (COVID-19) (GDPPR) and the Hospital Episodes Statistics (HES) datasets.

While ethnic category is collected in GDPPR it only has ~68% coverage. By combining GDPPR ethnic category data with the latest available ethnicity data in HES, coverage in ethnic category data is increased to 88%. Ethnic category data is combined and ‘cleaned’ (using a set of logical business rules to determine the most up to date, high quality category to assign to an individual) as part of the linkage process to create the best derived versions of fields.  

These fields are then made available for customers to request via the Data Access Request Service (DARS), with independent oversight provided by the Advisory Group for Data (AGD) and the Patient Advisory Group (PAG) where appropriate. The data set is made available for secondary uses in areas where data relating to ethnic category is needed for the purposes of COVID-19 planning and research. The data cannot be used for non-COVID-19 purposes.

Until April 2024, Ethnic Category Coverage, was published, on a quarterly basis (initially fortnightly until consultation period ending August 2022), as Management Information (MI) on the NHS England website at sub-Integrated Care Board (ICB) level. The publication aims to inform users of the quality, coverage, and distribution of ethnic category recording and complimented efforts being made by ICBs to improve ethnic category data coverage. 

The 2011 Census published by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) is the ‘gold standard’ for ethnicity recording in England and Wales, however as this data is nearly 10 years old and may no longer reflect the ethnic breakdown of the current population, the NHS England published data provides a good indication of ethnicity coverage in England.

NHS England has legal powers to disseminate COVID-19 Ethnic Category data for COVID-19 purposes under section 261 of the Health and Social Care Act 2012.

The data is made available to request by external customers via DARS.

NHS England will consult with the British Medical Association (BMA) and the Royal College of General Practitioners (RCGP) on all requests for access to this data which are received by DARS. An outline of the process that has been agreed with the BMA and the RCGP is published on the NHS England website. Requests by organisations to access record level (pseudonymised or identifiable) data from this collection will also be subject to AGD and PAG consideration and advice. 

Where an application for access to the data is approved, a data sharing agreement will be implemented between NHS England and the Data Controller(s) with whom the data is shared. All data sharing agreements are captured on the NHS England Data Uses Register.

• Be informed
  
• Get access to it
  
• Rectify or change it
  
• Erase or remove it
  
• Restrict or stop processing it
  
• Move, copy or transfer it
  
• Object to it being processed or used
  
• Know if a decision was made by a computer rather than a person
  

Type 1 objections are recognised by NHS England when collecting GDPPR. Therefore, as a derived dataset, all individuals who have registered a Type 1 objection with their general practice will not be included in the dataset.

The application of the national data opt-out will be considered on a case by case basis in relation to the dissemination of data from NHS England and may or may not apply depending on the specific COVID-19 purposes for which the data is to be used. This is because the national data opt-out will not generally apply where data is used to support the COVID-19 outbreak, due to the public interest in and legal requirements to share information. For more information on the national data opt-out and its application during the COVID-19 period see section 6.2 of the national data opt-out operational policy guidance.

NHS England's lawful bases for processing personal data are:

- UK GDPR Article 6(1)(c) - legal obligation (COVID-19 Directions)

- UK GDPR Article 6(1)(e) - public authority, suppplemented by:

      - Data Protection Act 2018 Section 8(c) – the exercise of a function conferred on a person by an enactment or rule of law

NHS England's lawful basis for processing special categories of personal data is:

- UK GDPR Article 9(2)(h) - health or social care system, supplemented by:

        - Data Protection Act 2018, Schedule 1, Part 1, Paragraph 2(2)(f) – health or social care purposes.