Why GP patient data should excite us all

Published:

10 February 2026

Professor Sir Rory Collins, CEO and Principal Investigator of UK Biobank, outlines how access to de-identified GP data for all UK Biobank’s 500,000 volunteers will transform the database’s research potential overnight. 

“Over 20 years ago I, along with half a million other UK volunteers, signed up to share my de-identified health data with scientists around the world. We have donated blood and urine samples, had our blood pressure and grip strength measured, completed detailed questionnaires, undergone MRI scans of our brains and bodies, and had our genetics and the proteins in our blood analysed. All these data have been combined with NHS information from our hospital visits, cancer registries and more. 

UK Biobank has approved scientists from across the globe – at universities, charities and companies – to use our data to tackle the most important diseases of our age. And this is already making a difference.  

Research is helping people to get earlier treatment by identifying those at highest risk of disease, and pinpointing biological markers in our blood so that diseases can be diagnosed years before symptoms arise. Yet there has always been a very large piece of the puzzle missing. We have not been able to include lots of the vital information about our health held by our General Practitioners (GPs), known in other countries as family doctors.

The missing puzzle piece

Until now, there has been no straightforward way to obtain the GP patient data for the participants in England (unlike in Scotland and Wales) despite having their consent. Today [10 February 2026], the UK Government has announced that UK Biobank will be able to add coded GP data, also called primary care data, for our participants in England into our resource for scientists.

This means the codes about our prescriptions and diagnoses (but no written notes) will be made available for researchers in the same way as with the hospital data. For scientists, this will be like going from dial-up internet to 5G overnight. 

[This] means understanding diseases like depression, dementia and arthritis which not only take a toll on patients and their families but also require so much care by the NHS. If we understand these conditions better, we can take steps towards prevention, treatment and cure. 

Adding these GP patient data will allow scientists to see how our lifestyle, environment and genetics affect the diseases that are mainly cared for by our GPs. That means understanding diseases like depression, dementia and arthritis which not only take a toll on patients and their families but also require so much care by the NHS. If we understand these conditions better, we can take steps towards prevention, treatment and cure. 

The unique value of time

UK Biobank’s power lies not just in the incredibly detailed data held on each volunteer, but more importantly, on the fact that we have been following the lives of healthy people for 20 years. That length of time, which cannot be rushed, means we will have the data from before, during and after some people fall ill, so that researchers around the world can help us understand why.

The GP data will alert us to when the condition first appeared, not just when cases got so bad that people ended up in hospital, and examining all the stages of disease will help us to predict, diagnose and work out which treatment would work best when. 

I can’t wait to see what researchers will uncover. I know that we will look back at this moment and see just how important it was. 

As both the chief executive of UK Biobank and a researcher in my own right, I have seen firsthand how the research community has been clamouring for the GP data since the early 2000s. We still have work to do to prepare the data before it can be used, but after two decades of anticipation, I can’t wait to see what researchers will uncover. I do know that we will look back at this moment and see just how important it was.”