COMPETITION & MARKETS AUTHORITY: The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) is required, under the Enterprise Act (EA02), to monitor, investigate and decide whether mergers may be expected to give rise to a subst

Data-sharing agreement from NHS Digital registers of approved data releases, 2014–2019. Evidence status: source reported.

Organisation: COMPETITION & MARKETS AUTHORITY
Source reference: DARS-NIC-38368-V3S5C-v0.4
Jurisdiction: England
Licence: Open Government Licence v3.0, subject to NHS England terms and exclusions

Register reference: DARS-NIC-38368-V3S5C-v0.4
Agreement period: not published to no end date published
For commercial purposes (as marked in the register): Not stated
Release files listed by NHS England: 6

Data approved

Hospital Episode Statistics Admitted Patient Care
Hospital Episode Statistics Outpatients

Objective, as published

The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) is required, under the Enterprise Act (EA02), to monitor, investigate and decide whether mergers may be expected to give rise to a substantial lessening of competition within any markets(s) in the UK for goods or services. If the CMA concludes that there is an anti-competitive outcome, it must decide whether action should be taken to remedy, mitigate, or prevent the identified substantial lessening of competition and/or any adverse effect which may be expected to result from the substantial lessening of competition. The Health and Social Care Act 2012 (HSCA12) confirms this duty with respect to the merger of NHS Foundation Trusts. In order to gain a deeper understanding about patient choice, which will allow the CMA to assess the effects of mergers involving NHS Foundation Trusts with greater sophistication, the CMA is undertaking a research programme with the following broad themes: (a) Theme A: Patient responses to changes in the structure of local health economies, significant local health events, and / or provider failings. (b) Theme B: The extent to which choice is exercised at various nodes along the patient pathway and the implications of this for merger assessment. The following information explains CMA’s research plans under each of these themes. Theme A: Understanding how patients respond to events that may change the quality of a provider is central to CMA’s work to make the healthcare market work for consumers. CMA inte…

Expected benefits, as published

Research literature suggests competition between healthcare providers strengthens incentives for hospitals to innovate, therefore maintaining and improving standards of quality. CMA hopes to build on this body of literature. Through developing and refining CMA’s methodology, and gaining a deeper understanding about patient choice, this will allow the CMA to assess the effects of mergers involving NHS Foundation Trusts with greater sophistication. This will help to maintain quality standards in the NHS, ultimately increasing patient welfare and reducing mortality rates.

Source: https://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/ukgwa/2019/http://content.digital.nhs.uk/media/23167/Data-Release-Register-September---November-2016/xls/Data_Release_Register__September_-_November_2016.xlsx. Captured 2026-10-30.

Limitations: Agreement as recorded in an NHS Digital register of approved data releases (2014–2019), retrieved from the UK Government Web Archive. That register lists releases made in its period and the agreement's purpose statement as it then stood; it gives no agreement dates, and the agreement may have changed since. Imported only where a paper quotes a reference no current register holds.