Who has access to my data – in PHE and more widely?

Cancer registration teams across England work in special secure areas in Public Health England which can only be accessed by people with permission to work on personal data.  No-one else is allowed in these rooms unless they are escorted.  If data is shared, either within PHE or with others such as researchers who might be working for a cancer charity or in a medical research team, the same data release process is followed.  This means that when PHE gets a request for data they check that the purpose the recipient is proposing (to use the data for) is appropriate, if it is for research, that it is ethical, and that the data required does not put patient confidentiality at an unacceptable risk.  PHE also applies the Caldicott Principles to ensure they only provide the minimum amount of data necessary. Data is only released for a medical purpose to help patients and the public.