SIR – Shortly, personal medical data held by GPs is to be centralised and shared more widely, with other medical practitioners, care professionals, researchers and others.

Each and every home was supposed to get a copy through the letterbox in January of an NHS leaflet outlining these plans, though the first I saw of it was when someone else showed me theirs!

Everyone is assumed to be ‘in’, and the onus is on individuals to choose to opt out if they are not agreeable. While the argument for sharing information with other medical/care professionals may be persuasive, I have concerns with the fact that the NHS can share personal confidential information with private companies which are to be allowed to buy access to our data.

Their main objective is financial profit. These private interests are much more prevalent these days with even some private treatment centres displaying the NHS logo, which can confuse the general public about the true nature of the institution.

So, if you don’t want your medical records to be shared, you need to get in touch with your GP, who will make a note of this and act accordingly.

David Hornsby, West View Avenue, Wrose