Gamechanger for UK research as NHS England advances consented GP data access

The UK government has issued new data provision notice instructing NHS England to collect and share coded GP record data for approved research studies where participants have already given explicit consent. Stakeholders across the research community have described the move as a “gamechanger” for UK science and patient-focused research infrastructure.

Published by the Department of Health and Social Care, the GPES Data for Consented Research Directions 2026 establishes a national mechanism for providing access to specified primary care data in England. NHS England will establish and operate the service and assume legal responsibility for the data provision under the Directions.

Coded primary care data held in GP records are a significant source of population health information, capturing diagnoses, risk factors, prescribing decisions and ongoing management, often at earlier stages of disease and across a broader spectrum of severity. Despite many patients having consented to the use of their routinely collected GP data in population-based research, there has until now been no central route to access these data across England. Research teams have instead had to negotiate agreements practice by practice, a process widely regarded as administratively burdensome.

Under the new framework, NHS England will collect specified coded entries from GP records, including SNOMED-coded diagnoses and findings, prescribed medications, investigations and test results, treatments and outcomes, and vaccinations and immunizations. The data will be made available to approved research studies, including projects from UK Biobank, Our Future Health and Genomics England’s 100,000 Genomes Project, in line with the consent already provided by participants.

Access will operate within defined governance and security parameters. Approved studies must meet NHS data security standards, and any onward access under sub-license arrangements must occur within secure data environments compliant with Department of Health and Social Care policy. Data may not be transferred outside an approved secure data environment, and formal accreditation will be required once the national scheme is in place.

Commenting on the announcement, Professor Andrew Morris, Director of Health Data Research UK, said researchers have too often seen only the “final chapter” of illness through hospital records, while primary care provides the “beginning and middle of the story.” He described access to consented participant GP data as the “missing piece of the puzzle” and a “genuine gamechanger for UK science – and above all, for patients.”

Professor Sir Rory Collins, Principal Investigator and Chief Executive of UK Biobank, said the advance for health research was akin to “going from dial-up internet to 5G overnight.” He also described the development as a “gamechanger for research,” stating that access to participants’ coded GP data would “revolutionize the power of UK Biobank.” UK Biobank is a large-scale biomedical database containing detailed genetic, lifestyle, imaging and health information from around 500,000 UK volunteers. Collins said integrating primary care records with these existing data would enable more detailed and earlier study of common conditions.

Professor Patrick Chinnery, Executive Chair of the Medical Research Council, explained that linking volunteers’ GP medical records to UK Biobank fills a long-standing gap in the dataset, with the potential to “unlock transformative research that will benefit NHS patients and the public, accelerate global discoveries, and position the UK as a world leader in life sciences.”

Similarly, Professor Cathie Sudlow of the University of Edinburgh said the change provides “at long last” a clear route to linking GP data to large-scale population resources. She highlighted the importance of primary care data for conditions largely diagnosed and managed outside hospitals, including arthritis, diabetes, asthma and mental health conditions, adding that the “substantial benefits that will accrue for patients and the wider public cannot be overstated.”

Anna Steere, Head of Understanding Patient Data, described the approach as pragmatic, stating:

“This change makes the use of GP records more consistent and reliable for research where participants have already given consent, without collecting any new data or affecting anyone outside these studies. It’s a pragmatic approach that makes better use of data already collected, helping important studies run effectively and accelerate progress for patients.”