Anonymising a discharge plan is the removal of personal identifiers from the document a client leaves with. The Data Protection Act 2018 and the NHS Code of Confidentiality govern these records. anonym.plus does the work on your device, fully offline. Where the client was detained under the Mental Health Act 1983, s.117 places a free-standing duty on the NHS and local authority to provide aftercare — the discharge plan usually documents how that duty is being met, and de-identifying a copy does not remove the underlying duty itself.
When this applies
A client discharged from detention under the Mental Health Act needs their s.117 aftercare plan shared with a partner recovery agency as a model exit document. Names, dates, and the follow-up contact must be stripped before it goes out.
How anonym.plus handles it
- Open the file in anonym.plus on your computer.
- Local OCR reads any scanned page.
- It flags client names, dates, and follow-up contacts.
- Review each flag and keep the next-step wording.
- Replace each value with a label, or redact it.
- Save the clean copy. The source stays local.
What you need to provide
- The file (PDF, DOCX, TXT, or scan).
- An operator: Replace, Redact, or Mask.
- Optional: a key map for re-linking.
Patient data entity types detected
| Category | anonym.plus entity type | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Client | PERSON | Noah Frey → [CLIENT_1] |
| Discharge date | DATE_TIME | Exit 19/03/2026 → [DATE] |
| Follow-up service | ORGANIZATION | Bridge House Recovery → [AGENCY] |
| NHS number | NHS_NUMBER | NHS 733 401 2340 → [NHS_NO] |
| Phone | PHONE_NUMBER | +44 7911 100141 → [PHONE] |
| Address | LOCATION | 5 Pine Street → [ADDRESS] |
Compliance achieved
- Strips identifiers under DPA 2018 & NHS Code of Confidentiality.
- Where the plan documents a Mental Health Act 1983 s.117 aftercare duty, that duty stays with the NHS and local authority regardless of how a de-identified copy of the document is later used.
- Local only, so no cloud processor contract is needed.
- Files are protected with AES-256-GCM.
- Also meets UK GDPR Art. 9 for special-category health records.
Anonymise behavioural discharge plans offline — see plans & start free →
Limitations & cautions
An exit document lists future supports by name. The tool removes those identifiers. You still check that a named programme plus a small area does not let a reader guess the client.
Frequently asked questions
Can partner agencies receive the file?
Yes, once de-identified. With every identifier stripped and DPA 2018 satisfied, the file may be shared with a partner agency as a model for exit work, without naming the actual client it was drawn from.
Are follow-up contacts removed?
Yes. A named programme, clinic, or worker listed as a follow-up contact is an identifier in its own right. The tool flags each one so the client cannot be traced through where they were referred on to.
Does de-identifying the plan affect the s.117 duty itself?
No. Section 117 aftercare is a statutory duty owed to the actual person discharged, not something that transfers with a document. A de-identified copy used as a model or training example has no bearing on the real aftercare arrangements still in place for that person.