Data privacy: GP surgery withdraws from kidney screening pilot after patients voice concerns

A general practice in Oxford has withdrawn from an NHS commissioned pilot with a private company to provide kidney screening at home, after patients raised data privacy concerns, The BMJ has learnt.

The service,12 provided by the technology company Healthy.io, enables patients at risk of kidney disease to use a test kit and mobile phone app to conduct urine tests at home without having to go to their GP surgery. The pilot is being funded by NHS England’s Accelerated Access Collaborative (AAC).3 Local commissioning bodies in England have signed up to trial the service through practices in their area,4 with eligible patients receiving texts offering them the chance to monitor their kidney function at home.

Summertown Health Centre in Oxford joined the scheme last year when it was commissioned locally by Oxfordshire Clinical Commissioning Group (now part of the Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire and Berkshire West Integrated Care Board). The practice told The BMJ that it subsequently withdrew after three of its patients raised concerns about being contacted by the company.