Consent to data sharing and refusals

With consent to data sharing, you can have a say in the way your data is used. There are separate consents to data sharing for patient data in healthcare and for client data in social services.

If you give your consent to data sharing, various service providers will be able to gain access to your data when providing care.Without your consent, your data can only be used by the health care service provider that recorded them.

Once you have given your consent to data sharing, your data may be shared from Kanta, for example

• between public and private health care service providers
• between public and private healthcare service providers
• between wellbeing services counties.

Consent to data sharing also covers data that is stored after you have given your consent. The consent to data sharing does not apply to prescription data.

You can read more about the sharing of data in outsourced service situations on the ‘Consent to data sharing in social welfare services’ page.

You can give your consent to data sharing on MyKanta. Patient data in healthcare and client data in social services have their own consents to data sharing. You can also give your consent to the sharing of patient data when visiting a healthcare service provider.

In MyKanta, you can give consents to data sharing in the Management of Data Use in MyKanta section. There are separate sections for consents to data sharing for patient data and for client data in social services.

The easiest way to update your previous consent to data sharing is in MyKanta.

1. Log into MyKanta.

2. A window will open in MyKanta containing information on how your data will be used in social welfare and health care services. Tick the box to acknowledge receipt of this notification, i.e. the information provided about the Kanta Services. After you have acknowledged receipt of the notification, you will be able to use MyKanta to manage your affairs. If you have already acknowledged receipt of the information on or after 30 November 2023, you will not be shown the notification.

3. If you previously gave consent to data sharing, a notification will appear on the front page of MyKanta prompting you to update your consent to data sharing.

4. Click on the link in the notification to update your consent to data sharing.

If you have underage children or are authorised to act on behalf of another adult, you can also update their consent to data sharing.

Alternatively, consent to data sharing can be updated later at health care services. This will be possible once the health care organisation in question has made the necessary changes to its information systems.

You may withdraw your consent to data sharing at any time in MyKanta. Patient data in healthcare and client data in social services have their own consents to data sharing. You can also withdraw your consent to the sharing of patient data when visiting a healthcare service provider.

If you withdraw your consent to the sharing of patient data or the client data in social services, your data can no longer be shared between different service providers. However, the data will be visible to the unit that treated you.

In MyKanta, denials of consent to data sharing can be set in the Management of Data Use in MyKanta section.

If you do not use MyKanta, you can also set denials of consent to data sharing at a healthcare service provider that uses the Kanta Services.

Please note that the use of data within the same service provider, such as a wellbeing services county or a private medical centre, cannot be prohibited.

You can stop your prescriptions from being shown to pharmacies and health care services by setting up a denial of consent on MyKanta. If you do not use MyKanta, you can also set denials of consent to data sharing at a healthcare service provider that uses the Kanta Services.

Despite the denial of consent, the person who issued the prescription and the health care service provider who stores the prescription data will be able to see the information on the prescription. If a denial of consent to data sharing has previously been set up for a prescription issued by a public health care organisation, the prescription can be viewed within the entire wellbeing services county.

However, data in these restricted prescriptions will not be shared with any other wellbeing services county or with private health care. If you have set up a denial of consent to data sharing of a prescription, you will need patient instructions for the medicine in question or a summary of prescriptions when visiting the pharmacy. Without patient instructions or a summary of prescriptions, the pharmacy will not be able to dispense your medicine.

However, certain prescriptions cannot be prevented from being shown. Read more on the denial of consent to sharing prescription data

Denials of consent to data sharing for specific service transactions, e.g. denial of access, that you have issued before 1 January 2023 will continue to function in the same way as before in all wellbeing services counties. They prevent the sharing of data with another service provider but do not prevent health care services within the same wellbeing services county from sharing your information.

If, prior to 1 January 2023, you issued a denial of consent to data sharing for a specific service provider (i.e. a specific register) that prohibited the sharing of all of your data held by one health centre, for instance, this denial prevents the sharing of the data with another service provider or another register.

Read below for more details on how an old denial of consent for a specific service provider’s register will work in your wellbeing services county.

In which wellbeing services counties will an old denial of consent for a service provider not cover new patient information?

In most wellbeing services counties, a denial of consent for a specific service provider issued by an individual before the wellbeing services county began operations will not apply to the new patient register of that wellbeing services county. If you do not want your patient information created in the new wellbeing services county to be shared with other service providers, you must issue a new denial of consent to data sharing for the wellbeing services county patient register.

This is the case in the following wellbeing services counties:

North Ostrobothnia, Lapland, Päijät-Häme, Eastern Uusimaa, Central Finland, Pirkanmaa, South Ostrobothnia, North Savo, Kanta-Häme, West Uusimaa, Southwest Finland, North Karelia, Satakunta, South Savo, and Vantaa and Kerava

Example:

Before the wellbeing services counties began operations, an individual issued a denial of consent to data sharing for health care and social services in Jyväskylä. This denial will not prevent the individual’s data from being used by health care services in the wellbeing services county of Central Finland as of 1 January 2023.

However, data for which an earlier denial of consent to data sharing has been set up under Jyväskylä’s former health care and social services will not be accessible to private healthcare service providers or other wellbeing services counties.

If the individual wishes to prevent the sharing of information created after the wellbeing service county began operations, the individual must issue a denial of consent to data sharing for the patient register of the wellbeing services county of Central Finland. This register incorporates the registers of all the service providers merged into the wellbeing services county.

Therefore, the new denial of consent to data sharing issued by the individual for the patient register of the wellbeing services county of Central Finland will cover not only the patient information of health care and social services in Jyväskylä, but also the information recorded in specialist medical care (Central Finland Hospital District) and in Äänekoski’s basic social security services.

In which wellbeing services counties will an old denial of consent for a service provider cover new patient information?

In some wellbeing services counties, a denial of consent for a specific service provider issued by an individual before the wellbeing services county began operations will also apply to the new patient register of that wellbeing services county. These wellbeing services counties are: Central Ostrobothnia, Central Uusimaa, Kainuu, Kymenlaakso, South Karelia, Ostrobothnia and HUS.

Example:

Before the wellbeing services counties began operations, an individual issued a denial of consent to data sharing for the Central Ostrobothnia Joint Municipal Authority for Social and Health Services (Soite). When the wellbeing services counties begin operations, this denial will extend to the patient register of the wellbeing services county of Central Ostrobothnia. The individual’s patient data, created both while Soite was still in existence and after the wellbeing services county began operations, will not be shared with other public or private health care service providers.