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An estimated 200,000 people have requested or downloaded documents allowing them to be excluded from a new national NHS database of patient records, a campaign group has said.

The Big Opt Out, which set up to campaign against plans for a mass database of patient information, said there had been 200,000 website downloads or requests for letters which people can send to their GPs asking for their medical details to be withheld from the database.

The news of the requests comes after scandals over data security including the revelation in November that computer discs holding personal information on 25 million people and 7.2 million families had gone missing.

Patient information has also been lost by nine NHS trusts, it has been revealed since then, as well as the details of three million learner drivers by a DVLA contractor.

Helen Wilkinson, of the Big Opt Out campaign, said she was concerned that patients were still largely unaware of their right to demand their details are excluded from the "spine" or national database of information.

She said details such as name, date of birth and ex-directory telephone numbers, known as the personal demographics service, had already gone "live" on the national database.

Patients can demand that their address and ex-directory phone numbers are withheld from the database as well their personal medical details, she said.

She said: "My concern is that patients are not aware of it - that the personal demographics part of it is available to 400,000 plus NHS staff.

"This has serious implications for victims of domestic violence and people on witness protection schemes."

She said there were many good reasons for demanding an opt-out.

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