Public Health privacy notice

Last updated: May 2026

What this notice is about 

All local authorities have a duty to improve the health of their residents. Islington Council is responsible for protecting and improving the health of people in Islington. We do this by: 

• helping people make a lifestyle change, for example, stopping smoking, managing weight and accessing contraception services 
• providing guidance and advice to residents and professionals 
• collecting and sharing information about local health and wellbeing needs to help the council, the NHS and other partners to plan services. 

You should also read our main privacy notice, which gives more details about your rights and how to contact us.  

What information we collect hold and use 

To deliver public health services, we need to use available health and social care data from a range of sources.  

This data may include personal information that may identify patients, such as name, address, age, sex, ethnicity, disease, use of hospital services, and/or NHS Number.  

Some data may not clearly identify you, but there may be the potential to identify people when different pieces of information are combined, either by the people handling the data or by those who see the results. 

We use the following public health data: 

Primary Care Mortality Database (PCMD) 

This contains information about deaths provided at the time of registration, which may include date of birth, date of death, sex, NHS Number, address, place of death and cause(s) of death the deaths register along with additional GP details, geographical indexing and coroner details where needed.  

This data is supplied by NHS Digital under a strict licence. It only relates to people who lived or were registered with a GP in the Islington.

Births data 

This includes date of birth, sex, birth weight, mother’s address, NHS Number, postcode, place of birth and stillbirth indicators.  

This data is provided by NHS Digital under strict licence. It only relates to babies born to mothers who live in Islington.

Hospital Episode Statistics (HES) 

This data includes details of all hospital admissions, outpatient appointments and accident and emergency (A and E) visits at NHS hospitals in England.  

This information is collected during a patient's time at hospital. It is used to allow hospitals to be paid for the care they deliver. HES data is also designed to enable secondary use, that is for non-clinical purposes that are not to do with direct patient care - such as research and planning local health services.  

The data we receive is anonymous and cannot be used to identify people under license from NHS Digital for non-clinical purposes. 

National Child Measurement Programme (NCMP) 

This is a mandatory national government scheme that collects annual information about children’s height and weight in reception year (ages 4-5) and year 6 (ages 10-11).  

Using Body Mass Index (BMI), the results are used to understand and monitor trends in obesity at a local and national level to support public health initiatives and campaigns.  

Local authorities collect and process this data.  It is then shared nationally and collected by Public Health England’s Obesity Risk Factors Intelligence Team. 

When the listed data is processed for Public Health purposes, the London Borough of Islington is the Data Controller.  

Where we get your information from 

We get information from:   

• NHS England and associated organisations, such as GPs 
• the Office for National Statistics 
• the Department for Education’s Local Authority School Census. 

How we use this information 

Public health staff use this information to understand the health, mortality, or care needs of the population for planning, evaluating and monitoring health, protecting and improving public health. It is used to carry out and support: 

• assessing health needs  
• understanding health inequalities  
• commissioning and delivery of services to promote health and prevent illness 
• monitoring and tracking public health trends  
• understanding inequalities in the way people access services 
• joint strategic needs assessment 
• work with partner organisation for health protection and other activities. 

Our legal reasons (under GDPR) for processing (using) your data

Under UK General Data Protection Regulations (UK GDPR), the Data Protection Act 2018 (DPA 2018) and the Data Use and Access Act 2025 (DUAA 2025) we use your data because: 

• it’s our legal obligation (the law says we must) 
• we are doing something in the public interest or as part of our official duties 
• in other circumstances where you give your consent (you said that we can) 
• in your vital interest (to protect your life or safety). 

Other laws that apply to our services 

We follow these laws:

• Public Health (Control of Disease) Act 1984
• Section 42(4) of the Statistics and Registration Service Act (2007) as amended by section 287 of the Health and Social Care Act (2012)
• Regulation 3 of the Health Service (Control of Patient Information) Regulations 2002
• The Local Authorities (Public Health Functions and Entry to Premises by Local Healthwatch Representatives) Regulations 2013 and 
• The Local Authority (Public Health, Health and Wellbeing Boards and Health Scrutiny) Regulations 2013. 

Who we share your information with 

The Public Health team is committed to using pseudonymised or anonymised information wherever possible, and in many cases, this will be the default position. This means we replace identifying details, like your NHS number, with a code so you cannot be identified. 

We may combine this data with other health and social care information help us better understand people’s care experience received across the health and social care system. 

Public Health do not share information that identifies individuals. This is apart from data processed as part of the NCMP. 

We may share summarised analyses or reports as a result of processing data with partner organisations, such as local Integrated Care Boards (ICBs), GP practices, other NHS organisations, and not for profit organisations that we work with. 

How we store your data 

Your data is stored securely in line with council and NHS Information governance standards. Only a small number of council employees can access it. 

To find out how long we keep your data check our main privacy notice and retention schedule. 

Your individual rights 

You have rights over your personal data.  For more details see our main privacy notice and the page about your individual rights.  

Complaints 

If you are unhappy with how we use your data please see the council’s main privacy notice to find out how to make a complaint.