Government reaffirms commitment to NHS patient data sharing

Prime minister David Cameron has reiterated government plans to make NHS patient data more freely accessible for use by the medical research sector.

Speaking at the recent Global Health Summit, the coalition leader said a consultation will soon be launched on plans to amend the NHS Constitution to make anonymous patient data available for research unless they specifically opt out.

This could be of potentially major benefit to academia and the life science sector, with the increased availability of real-world data making it more likely that early-stage drug research can be translated into positive results.

It will also help to make the UK a more attractive location for medical industry companies to invest.

"The UK is going to be the world leader when it comes to making this kind of data available and we're going to do this by harnessing the incredible data collected by our NHS," said Mr Cameron.

Other areas in which the government is aiming to make NHS data more transparent includes a new project that will allow patients to access their GP records online by 2015.