Private medical info

[willloman]

Can an employer request your NHS number? Is this like giving them access to your medical records? Any advice most appreciated.

Giving them your number gives them no access to anything. Admittedly this is unusual as a request, but it's not an issue.

In respect of any piece of personal data they are holding about you, under data protection legislation your employer should be telling you what they are using it for, how long they are keeping it, who it is being shared with and about how it is kept secure. They shouldn’t keep any data they don’t need.

If they are requesting your NHS number they should be also telling you why they want it.

Are you sure it’s your nhs number and not your national insurance number? These are two different things.

Yip my NHS number. Half my office works for NHS other half for a county council. They have sent two very casual texts, no paperwork. One text says a line manger wants it for 'covid research'. No specifics. Not sure what that means. Do I simply say no or should I ask for appropriate paperwork?
Thanks for replies so far.

At some point there will be dashboards reviewing proportions of NHS and council staff vaccinated. These are easier to do with a compiled list of NHS numbers sent to the national immunisation system as they can then give a statistical report back with % compliance without sharing personal data in the report.
But your employer having your nhs number won't enable them to see individual data about you.