Assessment redaction is the removal of all identifying data from a psychiatrist’s write-up. Mental health data is special-category under UK GDPR Art. 9. anonym.plus does it on your machine. The clinical reasoning stays, but the patient is no longer named. Many such assessments are prepared for, or arise from, a decision under the Mental Health Act 1983 (as amended by the Mental Health Act 2007) — for example an assessment supporting detention under s.2 or s.3 — where the Act's Code of Practice sets its own record standards alongside UK GDPR Art. 9.
When this applies
A Section 12-approved doctor's psychiatric assessment, prepared ahead of a Mental Health Tribunal hearing, is needed as a de-identified teaching example. Names, dates, and contact lines must come out before it goes anywhere.
How anonym.plus handles it
- Open the document in anonym.plus on your own device.
- Local OCR lifts text from any scanned page.
- It marks names, dates, addresses, and ID numbers.
- Check each flag and keep the diagnostic wording intact.
- Swap each value for a steady label, or hide it.
- Store the cleaned copy. The source stays on your machine.
What you need to provide
- The assessment file (PDF, DOCX, TXT, or scan).
- An operator: Replace, Redact, or Mask.
- Optional: a name map for later re-linking.
Patient data entity types detected
| Category | anonym.plus entity type | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Patient name | PERSON | Helen Park → [PATIENT_1] |
| Birth date | DATE_TIME | DOB 14/09/1988 → [DATE] |
| NHS number | NHS_NUMBER | NHS 943 476 5670 → [NHS_NO] |
| Address | LOCATION | 44 Birch Lane → [ADDRESS] |
| Phone | PHONE_NUMBER | +44 7700 900190 → [PHONE] |
| Record ID | MEDICAL_RECORD_NUMBER | MRN 71902 → [MRN] |
Compliance achieved
- Removes special-category identifiers under UK GDPR Art. 9 & DPA 2018.
- Where the assessment supports a decision under the Mental Health Act 1983 (as amended 2007), its Code of Practice sets separate record standards that de-identification does not override.
- On-device only, so no cloud processor contract is required.
- Drafts are kept safe with AES-256-GCM.
- Anonymisation assessed per ICO Anonymisation Code and UK GDPR Recital 26.
Anonymise psychiatric assessments offline — see plans & start free →
Limitations & cautions
UK GDPR also asks that no leftover detail could re-identify the person. The tool clears named identifiers. A rare diagnosis in a small area can still hint at identity, so review free text carefully.
Frequently asked questions
What identifiers should I remove from a psychiatric assessment?
Names, contact details, NHS number, dates, small geographic units, and any tribunal or case reference number. Under UK GDPR Art. 9 and the ICO Anonymisation Code, the motivated-intruder test applies — remove anything a determined reader could use to re-identify the patient, including a distinctive detention history or hearing date.
Will the clinical reasoning still read clearly?
Yes. Replace puts a fixed label where each identifier was, so the reasoning behind a s.2 or s.3 assessment still reads in full — only the person it is written about changes to a label.
Does using this for a tribunal hearing change anything?
The tribunal process has its own disclosure rules, and this tool does not decide what a tribunal may see. It only prepares a de-identified copy for training or internal review once any tribunal-specific handling has already been settled by the clinical team.