The registry and your data

Only hospital or clinic staff with access to the Breast and Cosmetic Implant Registry (BCIR) can enter patient information. Any hospital or clinic treating someone with an implant can request access.

The data is collected at the time of the procedure and entered securely into the system.

What data is collected?

The data that your surgical team will send to NHS Digital will include:

• your Community Health Index (CHI) number
• your family name
• your first name
• your current postcode
• your date of birth
• gender
• your surgeon
• details of the surgical procedure
• details of the implant used

How is my data used?

NHS Digital systems

NHS Digital has a Steering Group to advise on the registry. The Steering Group is made up of patient representatives and people from:

• the Department of Health and Social Care
• the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA)
• the Scottish Government
• relevant professional bodies
• other agencies

The Steering Group give expert advice on:

• clinical matters (keeping patients safe and providing good care)
• content (what the registry says and contains)
• governance (how the registry is kept accurate and safe)
• outputs (what the registry provides to the people who access it)

Reports

NHS Digital will publish regular reports on the data to support services. There will not be any information to identify individuals in the reports.

Read the 2020 report

How is my data kept safe?

There are senior doctors who make sure patient privacy and confidentiality are respected. They’re sometimes called Caldicott Guardians.

We adhere to all data protection law. We work to ensure the data system and values are clear and open.

Public Benefit and Privacy Panel

The Public Benefit and Privacy Panel (PBPP) checks requests to share data. It maintains information governance rules of:

• safe people
• safe projects
• safe data
• safe places

NHS Digital made an application for NHS Scotland to join the registry and it was approved in February 2019.

Privacy Notice

Privacy and data security are very important to the Scottish Government and NHS Scotland health boards. We take our legal obligations seriously.

Strict measures have been put in place so that the BCIR follows privacy and data security laws.

Read the BCIR privacy notice

Data Protection Impact Assessment

The Data Protection Impact Assessment for NHS Scotland’s engagement in the BCIR was shared with the NHS Boards.