This publication provides statistics on the number of unique NHS numbers with an associated national data opt-out. The national data opt-out was introduced on 25 May 2018. It was introduced following recommendations from the National Data Guardian. It indicates that a patient does not want their confidential patient information to be shared for purposes beyond their individual care across the health and care system in England. The service allows individuals to set a national data opt-out or reverse a previously set opt-out. It replaced the previous type 2 opt-outs which patients registered via their GP Practice. Previous type 2 opt-outs have been converted to national data opt-outs each month, until November 2018. This is why the monthly increase in opt-outs decreases from December 2018 onward. This publication includes the number of people who have a national data opt-out, broken down by age, gender and a variety of geographical breakdowns. From June 2020 the methodology for reporting NDOP changed, representing a break in time series. Therefore, caution should be used when comparing data to publications prior to June 2020. The number of deceased people with an active NDOP has been captured and reported for the first time in June 2020. Please note that this publication is no longer released monthly. It is released annually or when the national opt-out rate changes by more than 0.1 per cent. Prior to September 2020 there is a slight inflation of less than 0.05 percent in the number of National Data Opt-outs. This is due to an issue with the data processing, which has been resolved and does not affect data after September 2020. This issue does not disproportionately affect any single breakdown, including geographies. Please take this into consideration when using the data. Management information describes aggregate information collated and used in the normal course of business to inform operational delivery, policy development or the management of organisational performance. It is usually based on administrative data but can also be a product of survey data. We publish these management information to ensure equality of access and provide wider public value.

Data on patient opt-out information received from GP Practices.

There are two types of opt-out:

• A type 1 opt-out prevents information being shared outside a GP practice for purposes other than direct care.

• A type 2 opt-out prevents information being shared outside of the HSCIC for purposes beyond the individual's direct care.

A more detailed description of opt-outs is available from the HSCIC website

Type 1 and type 2 opts-outs are presented at GP practice level. Type 1 opt-outs are reported as instances (i.e. number of times the opt-out code occurs within GP records, which may include the same patient recorded at more than one practice) and there is no way to de-duplicate this information.

Levels of type 1 opt-outs are therefore likely to be higher than levels of type 2 opt-outs, which are de-duplicated.

Abstract copyright UK Data Service and data collection copyright owner.

Background
The Commission for Health Improvement (CHI), in conjunction with the Department of Health (DH), appointed Aston University to develop and pilot a new national National Health Service (NHS) staff survey, commencing in 2003, and to establish an advice centre and web site to support that process. Administration of the programme was taken over by the Healthcare Commission in time for the 2004 series. On the 1st April 2009, the Care Quality Commission (CQC) was formed which replaced the Healthcare Commission (users should note that some of the surveys in the series conducted prior to this date will still be attributed to the Healthcare Commission). In 2011 the Department of Health took over management of the survey. Since 2013 NHS England (NHSE) have been in charge of the survey programme. Researchers at Aston University were responsible for the initial development of the survey questionnaire instrument, and for the setting up of the NHS National Staff Survey Advice Centre. From 2011, Picker Institute Europe took over from Aston University as survey contractors. All organisations concerned worked in partnership to consult widely with NHS staff about the content of the new national survey. The work was conducted under the guidance of a stakeholder group, which contained representatives from the staff side, CQC, DH, human resources directors, Strategic Health Authorities and the NHS workforce.

Aims and conduct of the survey
The purpose of the annual NHS staff survey is to collect staff views about working in their local NHS trust. The survey has been designed to replace trusts' own annual staff surveys, the DH '10 core questions', and the HC 'Clinical Governance Review' staff surveys. It is intended that this one annual survey will cover the needs of HC, DH and trusts. Thus, it provides information for deriving national performance measures (including star ratings) and to help the NHS, at national and local level, work towards the 'Improving Working Lives' standard. The design also incorporates questions relating to the 'Positively Diverse Programme'. Trusts will be able to use the findings to identify how their policies are working in practice. The survey enables organisations, for the first time, to benchmark themselves against other similar NHS organisations and the NHS as a whole, on a range of measures of staff satisfaction and opinion. From 2013, the NHS Staff Survey went out to all main trust types - social enterprises, clinical commissioning groups and clinical support units were able to opt themselves in to the survey. Organisations were allowed to conduct the survey electronically and to submit data for an entire census or extended sample of their organisation. Previously the sample was restricted to 850 staff.

The collection of data (i.e. the survey fieldwork) is conducted by a number of independent survey contractors (see documentation for individual survey information). The contractors are appointed directly by each NHS trust in England and are required to follow a set of detailed guidance notes supplied by the Advice Centre (see web site link above), which covers the methodology required for the survey. For example, this includes details on how to draw the random sample, the requirements for printing of questionnaires, letters to be sent to respondents, data entry and submission. At the end of the fieldwork, the data are then sent to the Advice Centre. From the data submitted, each participating NHS trust in England receives a benchmarked 'Feedback Report' from the Advice Centre, which also produces (on behalf of the Department of Health) a series of detailed spreadsheets which report details of each question covered in the survey for each participating trust in England, and also a 'Key Findings' summary report covering the survey findings at national level. Further information about the survey series and related publications are available from the Advice Centre web site (see link above).


As in previous years, the 2009 survey contained different versions of the core questionnaire for each of the four main sectors (acute, ambulance, mental health and primary care). The majority of the content is the same across the different versions of the core questionnaire but there were a few sector specific questions.

Main Topics:
Topics covered in the survey include: work-life balance; appraisal; training, learning and development; team working; health and safety; errors and incidents witnessed; job characteristics and arrangements; management and supervision; perceptions of organisation worked for; harassment, bullying and violence; and respondents' demographic characteristics.

Sector-specific questions include: (acute) - infection control; (ambulance) - communication and distance between trust headquarters and ambulance stations; safe working...

Background
The Commission for Health Improvement (CHI), in conjunction with the Department of Health (DH), appointed Aston University to develop and pilot a new national National Health Service (NHS) staff survey, commencing in 2003, and to establish an advice centre and web site to support that process. Administration of the programme was taken over by the Healthcare Commission in time for the 2004 series. On the 1st April 2009, the Care Quality Commission (CQC) was formed which replaced the Healthcare Commission (users should note that some of the surveys in the series conducted prior to this date will still be attributed to the Healthcare Commission). In 2011 the Department of Health took over management of the survey. Since 2013 NHS England (NHSE) have been in charge of the survey programme. Researchers at Aston University were responsible for the initial development of the survey questionnaire instrument, and for the setting up of the NHS National Staff Survey Advice Centre. From 2011, Picker Institute Europe took over from Aston University as survey contractors. All organisations concerned worked in partnership to consult widely with NHS staff about the content of the new national survey. The work was conducted under the guidance of a stakeholder group, which contained representatives from the staff side, CQC, DH, human resources directors, Strategic Health Authorities and the NHS workforce.

Aims and conduct of the survey
The purpose of the annual NHS staff survey is to collect staff views about working in their local NHS trust. The survey has been designed to replace trusts' own annual staff surveys, the DH '10 core questions', and the HC 'Clinical Governance Review' staff surveys. It is intended that this one annual survey will cover the needs of HC, DH and trusts. Thus, it provides information for deriving national performance measures (including star ratings) and to help the NHS, at national and local level, work towards the 'Improving Working Lives' standard. The design also incorporates questions relating to the 'Positively Diverse Programme'. Trusts will be able to use the findings to identify how their policies are working in practice. The survey enables organisations, for the first time, to benchmark themselves against other similar NHS organisations and the NHS as a whole, on a range of measures of staff satisfaction and opinion. From 2013, the NHS Staff Survey went out to all main trust types - social enterprises, clinical commissioning groups and clinical support units were able to opt themselves in to the survey. Organisations were allowed to conduct the survey electronically and to submit data for an entire census or extended sample of their organisation. Previously the sample was restricted to 850 staff.

The collection of data (i.e. the survey fieldwork) is conducted by a number of independent survey contractors (see documentation for individual survey information). The contractors are appointed directly by each NHS trust in England and are required to follow a set of detailed guidance notes supplied by the Advice Centre (see web site link above), which covers the methodology required for the survey. For example, this includes details on how to draw the random sample, the requirements for printing of questionnaires, letters to be sent to respondents, data entry and submission. At the end of the fieldwork, the data are then sent to the Advice Centre. From the data submitted, each participating NHS trust in England receives a benchmarked 'Feedback Report' from the Advice Centre, which also produces (on behalf of the Department of Health) a series of detailed spreadsheets which report details of each question covered in the survey for each participating trust in England, and also a 'Key Findings' summary report covering the survey findings at national level. Further information about the survey series and related publications are available from the Advice Centre web site (see link above).

Background
The Commission for Health Improvement (CHI), in conjunction with the Department of Health (DH), appointed Aston University to develop and pilot a new national National Health Service (NHS) staff survey, commencing in 2003, and to establish an advice centre and web site to support that process. Administration of the programme was taken over by the Healthcare Commission in time for the 2004 series. On the 1st April 2009, the Care Quality Commission (CQC) was formed which replaced the Healthcare Commission (users should note that some of the surveys in the series conducted prior to this date will still be attributed to the Healthcare Commission). In 2011 the Department of Health took over management of the survey. Since 2013 NHS England (NHSE) have been in charge of the survey programme. Researchers at Aston University were responsible for the initial development of the survey questionnaire instrument, and for the setting up of the NHS National Staff Survey Advice Centre. From 2011, Picker Institute Europe took over from Aston University as survey contractors. All organisations concerned worked in partnership to consult widely with NHS staff about the content of the new national survey. The work was conducted under the guidance of a stakeholder group, which contained representatives from the staff side, CQC, DH, human resources directors, Strategic Health Authorities and the NHS workforce.

Aims and conduct of the survey
The purpose of the annual NHS staff survey is to collect staff views about working in their local NHS trust. The survey has been designed to replace trusts' own annual staff surveys, the DH '10 core questions', and the HC 'Clinical Governance Review' staff surveys. It is intended that this one annual survey will cover the needs of HC, DH and trusts. Thus, it provides information for deriving national performance measures (including star ratings) and to help the NHS, at national and local level, work towards the 'Improving Working Lives' standard. The design also incorporates questions relating to the 'Positively Diverse Programme'. Trusts will be able to use the findings to identify how their policies are working in practice. The survey enables organisations, for the first time, to benchmark themselves against other similar NHS organisations and the NHS as a whole, on a range of measures of staff satisfaction and opinion. From 2013, the NHS Staff Survey went out to all main trust types - social enterprises, clinical commissioning groups and clinical support units were able to opt themselves in to the survey. Organisations were allowed to conduct the survey electronically and to submit data for an entire census or extended sample of their organisation. Previously the sample was restricted to 850 staff.

The collection of data (i.e. the survey fieldwork) is conducted by a number of independent survey contractors (see documentation for individual survey information). The contractors are appointed directly by each NHS trust in England and are required to follow a set of detailed guidance notes supplied by the Advice Centre (see web site link above), which covers the methodology required for the survey. For example, this includes details on how to draw the random sample, the requirements for printing of questionnaires, letters to be sent to respondents, data entry and submission. At the end of the fieldwork, the data are then sent to the Advice Centre. From the data submitted, each participating NHS trust in England receives a benchmarked 'Feedback Report' from the Advice Centre, which also produces (on behalf of the Department of Health) a series of detailed spreadsheets which report details of each question covered in the survey for each participating trust in England, and also a 'Key Findings' summary report covering the survey findings at national level. Further information about the survey series and related publications are available from the Advice Centre web site (see link above).

The 2007 survey introduced different versions of the core questionnaire for each of the four main sectors (acute, ambulance, mental health and primary care). The majority of the content is the same across the different versions of the core questionnaire but in addition, now include a number of sector specific questions.