Development and evaluation of a de-identification procedure for a case register sourced from mental health electronic records

Table 1 List of key Patient Identifiers (PIs) specified to be de-identified in the U.K. to create a de-identified database as stipulated by the Caldicott Code on Confidentiality

What are patient identifiers?	First Name
	Middle Name
	Last Name
	Current and Old Address Line 1
	Current and Old Address Line 2
	Current and Old Address Post code
	Current and Old Telephone Numbers
	Current and Old Email addresses
	Date of birth
	National Health Service (NHS) Identification (ID) numbers*
	Hospital specific ID numbers
	Rare or unique characteristics
	Aliases/Nicknames

*NHS numbers are assigned to every resident of the U.K.
These are all personal to the patient. There is no obligation to de-identify all non-patient information such as clinical staff names.

ISSN: 1472-6947