Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether the Hospital Episode Statistics and Secondary Uses Service datasets are maintained for purposes of direct care; and whether the creation and processing of information by the Health and Social Care Information Centre for those purposes is subject to dissent under the Data Protection Act 1998.

NHS Digital (formerly known as the Health and Social Care Information Centre) has confirmed that Hospital Episode Statistics and Secondary Uses Service data are maintained for secondary uses; these are purposes other than for direct patient care. These purposes include supporting the planning and commissioning of healthcare services, supporting payment mechanisms and the development of healthcare policy.

Under Section 10 of the Data Protection Act, individuals can request that a data controller does not process their personal data, because to do so would cause the individual ‘substantial damage’ or ‘substantial distress’, and would be ‘unwarranted’.

NHS Digital will consider all such requests on their merits and respond appropriately to the individuals who have made them.