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@Stonehedge
For me it boils down to the fact the new central primary care data resource might harness the wealth of NHS data that is not currently available to researches to be used to improve cancer and Alzheimer's outcomes. It could even pathe the way to reducing how often those illnesses happening in the first place. Having lost friends to cancer recently and watching my Mum on the Alzheimers journey it's something very important to me. Something that outweighs any fear of my own medical data being sold. Seeing the difference in care available to my friends and family compares to other nearby countries has been difficult for me.
NHS data is sacred. I get that. But I think it's also important to reflect that if the people who opposed data sharing in the past got their way we wouldn't have been able to respond to this pandemic as well as we did in terms of vaccination programs and resource planning. There have been other huge benefits too. And many of the feared negatives haven't come to light even if there have been some cases of data misuse. Some egregious I'll admit.
The UK massively lags behind other countries in usage of health data. We have among the worst outcomes for cancer patients in Europe. We have an ageing population and the future pressures that will bring. I don't trust this government at all but this is a change that will be covered by dozens of governments going into the future.
For me, my personal decision is that the risk of data being used against my wishes is less important than the opportunity to improve life for my family and friends and for future generations.
Not intended to be preachy. Everybody has their own life experiences and interpretation of them. Just wanted to set out my thoughts as a counterbalance to the "this government is shit and they'll sell my data" opinion.