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Report on the review of patient-identifiable information

Following the production of The Protection and Use of Patient Information in 1996, the Chief Medical Officer of England commissioned the Caldicott Committee to review the transfer of patient-identifiable information from NHS organisations to other NHS and non-NHS organisations. The background to the review and the methodology and findings are explained in this report. Some 86 flows of patient-identifiable information were mapped relating to various planning, operational or monitoring purposes. The Committee found that all of the information flows were for justified purposes, though some did use more patient-identifiable information than was needed for their purposes. The Committee puts forward 16 recommendations and suggests six principles which can be applied to current flows and any flows proposed in the future.