Our ref: DE00000635044

 

Dear Mr Pack,

Thank you for your email of 28 July to the Department of Health requesting, under the Freedom of Information (FOI) Act, information relating to the Personal Demographics Service (PDS). Your email has been passed to me for reply.

You specifically ask:

“a. The number of records held in the Personal Demographics Service

     (PDS) dataset

    

 b. The number of PDS records marked as restricted or sensitive due to questions over the accuracy of the data (only)

    

 c. The number of PDS records marked as restricted or sensitive in total

    

d. The proportion of records containing a postal address

    

 e. The proportion of records containing an alternative contact (i.e. legal guardian, proxy or family/close contact)

    

f. The proportion of records containing a mobile phone number as part of the telecommunication contact details records

   

 g. The proportion of records containing an email address as part of the telecommunication contact details records

    

h. The number of registered smartcard holders

    

i. The number of registered smartcard holders whose access to PDS was revoked for disciplinary or security reasons

    

 j. The number of incidents of suspected misuse or unauthorised access to PDS records, the number of records involved in total the number of cases that, upon investigation, did show such abuse

    

k. The number of people the NHS has contacted to warn of actual or suspected misuse or unauthorised access of their PDS records

    

l. The number of occasions the police have been asked to investigate actual or suspected misuse or unauthorised access to PDS records

    

m. The number of occasions the Information Commissioner has been asked to investigate actual or suspected misuse or unauthorised access to PDS records

Where any of this data is not available for each of the last five years, I'd be happy to receive only the latest data.”

It is the responsibility of individual NHS organisations to ensure access to PDS is managed within the policy and guidance frameworks of the Department of Health.  Therefore, the responses below only relate to NHS CFH and its responsibilities and not to the wider NHS or to other outside organisations.

The table below contains the answers to each of your queries.  We have provided the latest data as you indicated that this would be acceptable to you .  To provide data for the last 5 years can only be done at a disproportionate cost.  Please note that each proportion has been rounded to the nearest 0.5%.

a) The number of records held in the PDS dataset.

As of there were 80,380,147 valid patient records on PDS.

b) The number of PDS records marked as restricted or sensitive due to questions over the accuracy of the data (only).

As of there were 10,355 records marked for data quality investigations.

c) The number of PDS records marked as restricted or sensitive in total.

As of there were 12,629 records marked as restricted or sensitive in total.

d) The proportion of records containing a postal address.

As of 89.5% of records contained a postal address.

e) The proportion of records containing an alternative contact (i.e. legal guardian, proxy or family/close contact).

As of 8% of records contained an alternative contact.

f) The proportion of records containing a mobile phone number as part of the telecommunication contact details records.

As of 12.5% of records contained a mobile phone number.

g) The proportion of records containing an email address as part of the telecommunication contact details records.

As of 0.5% of records contained an email address.

h) The number of registered smartcard holders.

The number of registered smartcard holders with unexpired certificates as at was 677,926.

i) The number of registered smartcard holders whose access to PDS was revoked for disciplinary or security reasons.

Whilst NHS CFH may be asked for advice on such cases by local organisations, such as primary care trusts and acute trusts, it is not necessarily aware of the conclusions or outcomes of these investigations.

We are, however, aware of two such cases involving PDS and we understand that, in each case, the employer took disciplinary action but we do not have the details of the outcome of either case.

j) The number of incidents of suspected misuse or unauthorised access to PDS records; and the number of records involved in total; and the number of cases that, upon investigation, did show such abuse.

NHS CFH has been alerted to one such incident earlier in 2011.

32 records were involved and when the incident was resolved it was determined that there was no malicious intent and no records had been abused.

k) The number of people the NHS has contacted to warn of actual or suspected misuse or unauthorised access of PDS records.

NHS CFH has not contacted anyone for this purpose.

Other NHS organisations may have done so but we would not normally be aware of this.

l) The number of occasions the police have been asked to investigate actual or suspected misuse or unauthorised access to PDS records.

None of which we are aware.

Other NHS organisations may have done so but we would not normally be aware of this.

m) The number of occasions the Information Commissioner has been asked to investigate actual or suspected misuse or unauthorised access to PDS records.

None of which we are aware.

Other NHS organisations may have done so but we would not normally be aware of this.

The Information Commissioner’s Office may be able to advise further with this question.

If you have any queries about this response, please contact me.  Please remember to quote the reference number above in any future communications.

If you are dissatisfied with the handling of your request, you have the right to ask for an internal review. Internal review requests should be submitted within two months of the date of receipt of the response to your original letter and should be addressed to:

Head of the Freedom of Information Team

Department of Health

Room 317

House

79

SW1A 2NS

  

Email: [email address]

If you are not content with the outcome of your complaint, you may apply directly to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) for a decision. Generally, the ICO cannot make a decision unless you have exhausted the complaints procedure provided by the Department.  The ICO can be contacted at:

Information Commissioner’s Office

Wycliffe House

Water Lane

Wilmslow

SK9 5AF

Yours sincerely,

Laura

Freedom of Information Team

Department of Health