GP records for more than 3 million patients are to be shared with researchers to improve the diagnosis, treatment and prevention of serious diseases. Data will be provided to three large national studies – Genomics England, Our Future Health and UK Biobank – where participants have given consent. This is a new legal direction from Health Secretary Wes Streeting which allows the sharing of three directly coded data by the NHS in England. This data is not endorsed or codified in other NHS England projects. Until now, the sharing of GP patient records outside the NHS has not been allowed, except during the covid pandemic. The government says the researchers' access to the data will help map the country's health, investigate the causes of disease and develop new treatments, such as for cancer.