Sharing of Health Data

Our Digital and Data People’s Panel, comprised of members of the public, VCSE organisations and Healthwatch, has been working in partnership with senior leaders across the NHS and social care to agree a set of principles on how health and care organisations share people’s health information to:

• ensure people receive care and treatment,
• support the planning of health and care services, and
• undertake research to improve care and treatments. 

The People’s Panel want to ensure that the views of people from Sussex are central to this work – having recently used feedback from communities in Sussex from a Data Survey in July 2024.

We need your help again to support the People’s Panel with this work - please complete the two questions below in the Poll.

For further information, contact Isabel Clark:

• email us at sxicb.involvement@nhs.net
• phone us on 0300 140 9854

Background

Health and Social Care organisations across Sussex are working to ensure that every time you see a health or social care professional, they will have access to the right information about your health and wellbeing to care for you, and you will not need to “tell your story” each time you see someone new.

Health information, also known as your medical record, is personal information about your health and wellbeing. It is securely stored to ensure that only the people who are involved in your care have access to it. Each time you receive health or social care, any information relating to your health is recorded, and each organisation you come into contact with keeps their own records.

In some cases, non-identifiable health information is shared anonymously – this means that any personal information is removed (e.g. name, address). This information can be collated and used to examine trends, for example with the spread of diseases, which helps health and social care services plan for the future.