The British Journal of General Practice has just published an editorial I wrote on Patient confidentiality and central databases. I’m encouraging GPs to help their patients opt out of the new NHS central databases by making clear that it’s OK for patients to do so. Some practices have distributed leaflets from www.TheBigOptOut.org while others - such as The Oakland practice - have produced their own leaflets. These practices have seen the proportion of patients opting out rise from about 1% to between 6% and 19%. The same thing happened a few years ago in Iceland, where GP participation led to 11% of the population opting out of a central database project, which as a result did not become universal. GPs can help patients do the same here.