Privacy Notice

Health care data from NHS Digital and the Office for National Statistics

The Manchester Centre for Health Economics is committed to using health care data in a safe and responsible manner. The Centre uses this information to study the NHS, how it functions and how it might be improved. This information is about the public and how they use NHS services, you therefore have a right to know what information we have and how we intend to use it. Below you will find information to help you understand the data we hold

The data

We hold data from Hospital Episode Statistics (HES) and Office for National Statistics (ONS) mortality statistics.

HES is a record of all people who attend hospital. We know the age and gender of these patients, what hospital they went to and what they went to hospital for.  We do not know who the patient is, their name or address, or any other information which could be used to accurately identify them.

ONS mortality statistics is a record of all people who have died in the UK. We know the persons age and gender, we also know the date of death and some limited information about the cause of death. We do not know the name or address of the person, or any other information which could be used to accurately identify them.

These data are not categorised as personal data as individuals cannot be identified.

The purpose

The data we hold is used for a number of projects

  1. Evaluation of the healthcare regulator (the Care Quality Commission). Hospital and mortality data will be used to assess the impact that healthcare regulation, in the form of inspections and ratings, has on hospital performance and behaviour. Changes in performance and behaviour will be compared to those achieved by other policies in order to determine how patients benefit from healthcare regulation.
  2. Organising and delivering 24/7 care. Hospital and mortality data will be used to investigate whether the quality of care received by patients differs depending on which day of the week they are admitted to hospital. This research will benefit the NHS and patients by providing information on the costs, benefits and potential unintended consequences of extending the hours of full operation of the NHS.

Legal Basis for processing

HES data: Health and Social Care Act 2012 - s261 - 'Other dissemination of information'

ONS data: Section 42(4) of the Statistics and Registration Service Act (2007) as amended by section 287 of the Health and Social Care Act (2012)

Sharing

These data will be stored in a safe and secure way and only accessed by members of the research team. The data will only be used to study the NHS and not used commercially. The data are not shared.

Retention

At the completion of the research the data will be archived and retained in line with the funding body policies. The retention period is until: 01/04/2026

Opt-Out

If you would like to opt-out and not have your data used for this type of research please contact NHS Digital: enquiries@nhsdigital.nhs.uk

More information on opting-out can be found on the NHS Digital website: https://digital.nhs.uk/services/national-data-opt-out-programme

More information

If you would like more information on the University of Manchester and their privacy notices please see: https://www.manchester.ac.uk/discover/privacy-information/data-protection/privacy-notices/