Data on patients who did not object would then be used in anonymised form by health care researchers, managers and planners including those outside the NHS such as academic institutions or commercial organisations.
The leaflet sent to households in England was criticised for only describing the benefits of the scheme, and not including an opt-out form.
[5] The programme was stopped in May 2014 and in October 2014 six clinical commissioning groups in four areas of England were selected to take part in a "pathfinder" programme involving 265 GP surgeries with 1.7 million patients across West Hampshire, Blackburn and Darwen, Leeds and Somerset.
[7] Atos was criticised by the Public Accounts Committee in December 2015 and accused of taking advantage of the Department of Health and not showing "an appropriate duty of care to the taxpayer”.
NHS Digital was criticised for failing to communicate its intentions beyond updating its website, effectively disenfranchising a huge portion of the general public who do not monitor the site.