The first wave of leaflets explaining how patients' medical records will be shared across the NHS to improve services was sent to households this week.

The leaflets, entitled ‘Better information means better care', were posted by NHS England to households in the north of England to explain why patients should allow their personal data from their GP practice, hospital and community services to be collected and shared nationally.

The leaflets will be sent to all 26.5 million households in England by the end of the month and were part of the government department's plans to create a "more complete picture" of the quality of care delivered across the health service, the commissioning body said.

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	NHS England had no immediate plans to collect patient data from pharmacies, although it would like to do this "further down the line", a spokesperson told C+D this week (January 6).

The leaflets advise patients to visit their GP practice if they want to opt out of having their information shared, before the first data from practices is sent to the NHS Health and Social Care Information Centre in spring.

Numark managing director John D'Arcy said giving patients the chance to opt out was the "right way of doing it".

"I think most people will agree to it, when it's explained why it's being collected," he told C+D.

NHS England's chief data officer Geraint Lewis said the NHS has been collecting patient information from hospitals "for decades", but had been missing information about the quality of care provided outside of hospitals.

Using information such as a patient's postcode and NHS number will allow the NHS to compare the care in different areas and change services to reflect local needs, according to the leaflet.

Plans for the leaflets were first unveiled by NHS England in October. The same month, health secretary Jeremy Hunt told the House of Commons that pharmacists would get access to patient records. However, Mr Hunt did not provide any details on when pharmacists would be given access or how the system would work

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