Progress note de-identification is the removal of personal data from a clinician’s ongoing notes. UK GDPR Art. 9 and DPA 2018 govern special-category health data. anonym.plus does it on your machine. The update stays readable; the client is not named. Where these are NHS Talking Therapies (formerly IAPT) session notes, the service also reports session-by-session outcome measures such as PHQ-9 and GAD-7 into a national minimum dataset — de-identifying the free text is separate from, and does not replace, that structured reporting.
When this applies
An NHS Talking Therapies service tracks PHQ-9 and GAD-7 outcomes across many visits. To pool the free-text notes safely, names, dates, and IDs must be stripped from every entry first.
How anonym.plus handles it
- Open the file in anonym.plus on your own device.
- Local OCR reads any scanned page.
- It marks names, dates, and ID numbers.
- Review each flag and keep the clinical update.
- Replace each identifier with a label, or black it out.
- Save the clean entry. The source stays local.
What you need to provide
- The file (PDF, DOCX, TXT, or scan).
- An operator: Replace, Redact, or Mask.
- Optional: a name map for re-linking.
Patient data entity types detected
| Category | anonym.plus entity type | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Client | PERSON | Greta Lind → [CLIENT_1] |
| Visit date | DATE_TIME | Seen 28/04/2026 → [DATE] |
| NHS number | NHS_NUMBER | NHS 288 901 2345 → [NHS_NO] |
| Partner | PERSON | partner Ray → [FAMILY_1] |
| Phone | PHONE_NUMBER | +44 7700 900156 → [PHONE] |
| Record ID | MEDICAL_RECORD_NUMBER | MRN 28890 → [MRN] |
Compliance achieved
- Removes identifiers under UK GDPR Art. 9 & DPA 2018.
- Structured outcome scores reported into the NHS Talking Therapies minimum dataset are separate from this free text — de-identifying the notes does not touch that reporting.
- Runs offline, so no cloud processor contract is required.
- Entries are kept safe with AES-256-GCM.
- Assessed per ICO Anonymisation Code and UK GDPR Recital 26.
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Limitations & cautions
UK GDPR also expects no leftover clue that could re-identify the person. The tool clears named identifiers. A vivid one-off event in the text may still hint at identity, so review before sharing.
Frequently asked questions
Can I batch many notes?
Yes. Process each file in turn with the same operator, so every visit's note is handled the same way. Use a shared key map if you need to keep entries linked across a client's visits without naming them in the pooled text.
Are partners and family hidden?
Yes. A named partner or relative is an identifier just as much as the client's own name. The tool flags each so the client cannot be traced through someone mentioned in the update.
Does this replace minimum dataset reporting?
No. The minimum dataset submission is a separate, structured process built into the NHS Talking Therapies service itself. This tool only de-identifies the free-text notes you want to pool or review outside that system, such as for internal case review.