GDPPR COVID-19 – CCG - Pseudo

NHS Digital has been provided with the necessary powers to support the Secretary of State’s response to COVID-19 under the COVID-19 Public Health Directions 2020 (COVID-19 Directions) and support various COVID-19 purposes, the data shared under this agreement can be used for these specified purposes except where they would require the reidentification of individuals.

GPES data for pandemic planning and research (GDPPR COVID 19)

To support the response to the outbreak, NHS Digital has been legally directed to collect and analyse healthcare information about patients from their GP record for the duration of the COVID-19 emergency period under the COVID-19 Directions.

The data which NHS Digital has collected and is providing under this agreement includes coded health data, which is held in a patient’s GP record, such as details of:

• diagnoses and findings

• medications and other prescribed items

• investigations, tests and results

• treatments and outcomes

• vaccinations and immunisations

Details of any sensitive SNOMED codes included in the GDPPR data set can be found in the Reference Data and GDPPR COVID 19 user guides hosted on the NHS Digital website. SNOMED codes are included in GDPPR data.

There are no free text record entries in the data.

The Controller will use the pseudonymised GDPPR COVID 19 data to provide intelligence to support their local response to the COVID-19 emergency. The data is analysed so that health care provision can be planned to support the needs of the population within the CCG area for the COVID-19 purposes.

Such uses of the data include but are not limited to:

• Analysis of missed appointments - Analysis of local missed/delayed referrals due to the COVID-19 crisis to estimate the potential impact and to estimate when ‘normal’ health and care services may resume, linked to Paragraph 2.2.3 of the COVID-19 Directions.

• Patient risk stratification and predictive modelling - to highlight patients at risk of requiring hospital admission due to COVID-19, computed using algorithms executed against linked de-identified data, and identification of future service delivery models linked to Paragraph 2.2.2 of the COVID-19 Directions. As with all risk stratification, this would lead to the identification of the characteristics of a cohort that could subsequently, and separately, be used to identify individuals for intervention. However the identification of individuals will not be done as part of this data sharing agreement, and the data shared under this agreement will not be reidentified.

• Resource Allocation - In order to assess system wide impact of COVID-19, the GDPPR COVID 19 data will allow reallocation of resources to the worst hit localities using their expertise in scenario planning, clinical impact and assessment of workforce needs, linked to Paragraph 2.2.4 of the COVID-19 Directions:

The data may only be linked by the Data Controller or their respective Data Processor, to other pseudonymised datasets which it holds under a current data sharing agreement only where such data is provided for the purposes of general commissioning by NHS Digital. The Health Service Control of Patient Information Regulations (COPI) will also apply to any data linked to the GDPPR data.

The linked data may only be used for purposes stipulated within this agreement and may only be held and used whilst both data sharing agreements are live and in date. Using the linked data for any other purposes, including non-COVID-19 purposes would be considered a breach of this agreement. Reidentification of individuals is not permitted under this DSA.

LEGAL BASIS FOR PROCESSING DATA:

Legal Basis for NHS Digital to Disseminate the Data:

NHS Digital is able to disseminate data with the Recipients for the agreed purposes under a notice issued to NHS Digital by the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care under Regulation 3(4) of the Health Service Control of Patient Information Regulations (COPI) dated 17 March 2020 (the NHSD COPI Notice).

The Recipients are health organisations covered by Regulation 3(3) of COPI and the agreed purposes (paragraphs 2.2.2-2.2.4 of the COVID-19 Directions, as stated below in section 5a) for which the disseminated data is being shared are covered by Regulation 3(1) of COPI.

Under the Health and Social Care Act, NHS Digital is relying on section 261(5)(d) – necessary or expedient to share the disseminated data with the Recipients for the agreed purposes.

Legal Basis for Processing:

The Recipients are able to receive and process the disseminated data under a notice issued to the Recipients by the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care under Regulation 3(4) of COPI dated 20th March (the Recipient COPI Notice section 2).

The Secretary of State has issued notices under the Health Service Control of Patient Information Regulations 2002 requiring the following organisations to process information:

Health organisations

“Health Organisations” defined below under Regulation 3(3) of COPI includes CCGs for the reasons explained below. These are clinically led statutory NHS bodies responsible for the planning and commissioning of health care services for their local area

The Secretary of State for Health and Social Care has issued NHS Digital with a Notice under Regulation 3(4) of the National Health Service (Control of Patient Information Regulations) 2002 (COPI) to require NHS Digital to share confidential patient information with organisations permitted to process confidential information under Regulation 3(3) of COPI. These include:

• persons employed or engaged for the purposes of the health service

Under Section 26 of the Health and Social Care Act 2012, CCG’s have a duty to provide and manage health services for the population.

Regulation 7 of COPI includes certain limitations. The request has considered these limitations, considering data minimisation, access controls and technical and organisational measures.

Under GDPR, the Recipients can rely on Article 6(1)(c) – Legal Obligation to receive and process the Disclosed Data from NHS Digital for the Agreed Purposes under the Recipient COPI Notice. As this is health information and therefore special category personal data the Recipients can also rely on Article 9(2)(h) – preventative or occupational medicine and para 6 of Schedule 1 DPA – statutory purpose.

PROCESSING CONDITIONS:

Data must only be used for the purposes stipulated within this Data Sharing Agreement. Any additional disclosure / publication will require further approval from NHS Digital.

Data Processors must only act upon specific instructions from the Data Controller.

All access to data is managed under Role-Based Access Controls. Users can only access data authorised by their role and the tasks that they are required to undertake.

Patient level data will not be linked other than as specifically detailed within this Data Sharing Agreement.

NHS Digital reminds all organisations party to this agreement of the need to comply with the Data Sharing Framework Contract requirements, including those regarding the use (and purposes of that use) by “Personnel” (as defined within the Data Sharing Framework Contract i.e.: employees, agents and contractors of the Data Recipient who may have access to that data).

The Recipients will take all required security measures to protect the disseminated data and they will not generate copies of their cuts of the disseminated data unless this is strictly necessary. Where this is necessary, the Recipients will keep a log of all copies of the disseminated data and who is controlling them and ensure these are updated and destroyed securely.

Onward sharing of patient level data is not permitted under this agreement. Only aggregated reports with small number suppression can be shared externally.

The data disseminated will only be used for COVID-19 GDPPR purposes as described in this DSA, any other purpose is excluded.

SEGREGATION:

Where the Data Processor and/or the Data Controller hold both identifiable and pseudonymised data, the data will be held separately so data cannot be linked.

AUDIT

All access to data is auditable by NHS Digital in accordance with the Data Sharing Framework Contract and NHS Digital terms.

Under the Local Audit and Accountability Act 2014, section 35, Secretary of State has power to audit all data that has flowed, including under COPI.

DATA MINIMISATION:

Data Minimisation in relation to the data sets listed within the application are listed below:

• Patients who are normally registered and/or resident within the CCG region (including historical activity where the patient was previously registered or resident in another commissioner area).

and/or

• Patients treated by a provider where the CCG is the host/co-ordinating commissioner and/or has the primary responsibility for the provider services in the local health economy.

and/or

• Activity identified by the provider and recorded as such within national systems (such as SUS+) as for the attention of the CCG.

The Data Services for Commissioners Regional Office (DSCRO) obtains the following data sets:

- GDPPR COVID 19 Data

Pseudonymisation is completed within the DSCRO and is then disseminated as follows:

1. Pseudonymised GDPPR COVID 19 data is securely transferred from the DSCRO to the Data Controller / Processor

2. Aggregation of required data will be completed by the Controller (or the Processor as instructed by the Controller).

3. Patient level data may not be shared by the Controller (or any of its processors).

• Operational planning to predict likely demand on primary, community and acute service for vulnerable patients due to the impact of COVID-19

• Analysis of resource allocation

• Investigating and monitoring the effects of COVID-19

• Patient Stratification in relation to COVID-19, such as:

o Patients at highest risk of admission

o Frail and elderly

o Patients that are currently in hospital

o Patients with prescriptions related to COVID-19

o Patients recently Discharged from hospital

For avoidance of doubt these are pseudonymised patient cohorts, not identifiable.

• Manage demand and capacity

• Reallocation of resources

• Bring in additional workforce support

• Assists commissioners to make better decisions to support patients

• Identifying COVID-19 trends and risks to public health

• Enables CCGs to provide guidance and develop policies to respond to the outbreak

• Controlling and helping to prevent the spread of the virus

Yielded Benefits is not a requirement for new applications.