Thousands of people in mid Essex have refused to share their medical records for healthcare research and planning.

The NHS says sharing of patient data is "vital" to research into life-changing illnesses, such as cancer, diabetes and long Covid, and was pivotal in developing responses to the coronavirus pandemic.

But figures show 3,641 people in Maldon had signed up to a national data opt-out scheme by the start of September.

The scheme lets patients prevent confidential information held by NHS Digital from being used for purposes other than their care and treatment.

It is different from another opt-out scheme, which prevents NHS Digital from collecting information from GP records.

Figures on those opt-outs are not available, so the number of patients choosing not to share their health records could be higher.

Patient data can be used for life-saving research, and throughout the pandemic has been used to develop the shielded patient list, to identify which treatments would be most effective for Covid-19 patients, the NHS said.

However, there has been a steep rise in the number of Maldon patients choosing not to share their data via the national opt-out scheme.

Some 1,385 patients in the district signed opted out between May and September this year – 38 per cent of the total number.

They were among more than a million people to do so across England in the same period, meaning more than three million patients have opted out.

The rise came after campaigners and groups, including the Royal College of General Practitioners, expressed concerns over proposals for a new data collection process in England.

The GP Data for Planning and Research programme was announced in May as a more effective and efficient way for NHS Digital to collect GP data.

It was scheduled to start in July, but was put on hold following widespread criticism.

Royal College of GPs chairman Prof Martin Marshall said the figures were unsurprising given the confusion surrounding the GDPR programme.

He said data sharing for healthcare planning and research was "vital" during the pandemic, but patients need to be sure how their data will be used.

A spokesman for NHS Digital said medical research and planning benefits everyone, but is "only as good as the data it is based on" and urged patients to ensure they are making an informed decision about whether to share medical records.

She said the NHS took data safeguarding responsibilities seriously and data would only ever be used by organisations with a legitimate need to access it.

But Cori Crider, director of digital rights organisation Foxglove, said opt-out figures showed patients were not reassured about what would happen to their medical data.

She said: "Only a fair, safe, trustworthy system that doesn't let corporations exploit the NHS for private profit will get the three million people who have opted out to consider thinking again."