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We are required to check our data sharing against the national Opt out database. You are not allowed to hold the opt out status against the record but can maintain a cache of the results for a fixed period but must regularly update it.

There is currently one way this can be checked which is using a MESH mailbox https://digital.nhs.uk/services/national-data-opt-out/compliance-with-the-national-data-opt-out/check-for-nationaln

ational-data-opt-outs-service In the longer term there will be a an HL7 FHIR rest api that can be queried https://developer.nhs.uk/apis/optout/overview_ndop.html.

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The deadline to put this process in place was the end of March but has been extended 6 months to 30th September. 

UKRR Process

We now have a MESH mailbox which allows us to access the National Opt out checking. The requirements for using this is to create a .dat  file of NHS numbers each on a new line with a comma  and cr  at the end of each row. This is an example file using dummy NHS numbers taken from NHS Digital website.

9000543664,
9000956406,
9000617017,
9000429321,
9000962382,
9000819657,
9000159594,
9000898358,
9000093377,
9000174186,
9000449907,
9000401318,
9000662584,
9000363907,
9000683339,
9000803888,
9000134329,
9000961849,
9000092770,
9000925967,
9000230070,
9000021513,
9000581394,
9000504543,

The file needs use a a unique name and NHS Digital recommend  your mailbox ID, the date the file is produced, and a 4-digit sequence number to show what order that file has been produced in that month, each separated by hyphens.

For example, an organisation with MESH mailbox ID 8HQ50OT001 , that had produced a file on 3 June 2020  and which was the first file produced that month, would have the file name:

8HQ50OT001-030620-0001

The mailbox has a few setting requirements...

• Select the correct message type
  • select the Workflow as: SPINE_NTT_UPHOLDING
• select the recipient of mailbox ID X26HC036
• attach the file  (saved as a .dat file type)
• message subject and message need to  be filled in (though the MESH UI suggests they are optional they are required for this process to work) using a reference with unique identifiers. I have used the file name for the subject and for the message I have included a time stamp as this is used to identify/name the returned file.

Click submit  to send the message the response will be received in the next 40 minutes. If the mail message setup is incorrect (such as not filling in subject and message fields ) then no response will be received.

If successful you receive back a file to download named the same as the message with a .dat  extension. The format is the same as the sent file only now it only contains NHS numbers for people who haven't opted out.