Anonymising a treatment document is the removal of identifying detail under UK GDPR Art. 9 and DPA 2018. anonym.plus does it on your own device. The goals and methods stay readable; the patient is not named. Where the plan follows the NHS's Care Programme Approach (CPA) or sits under the Mental Health Act 1983 Code of Practice's care-planning standards, those frameworks expect the live plan itself to be kept and reviewed — anonymisation applies to any copy used outside direct care, such as training.
When this applies
A trust wants to use a real Care Programme Approach (CPA) care plan as a training template for new care coordinators. Names, dates, and contact lines must be stripped before staff see it.
How anonym.plus handles it
- Open the document in anonym.plus on your machine.
- Local OCR reads scanned pages so nothing is missed.
- It marks names, dates, and ID numbers.
- Review each flag and keep the goal wording.
- Replace each identifier with a label, or hide it.
- Save the clean version. The original stays local.
What you need to provide
- The plan 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Patient name | PERSON | Omar Rashid → [PATIENT_1] |
| Plan date | DATE_TIME | Dated 30/03/2026 → [DATE] |
| NHS number | NHS_NUMBER | NHS 607 341 2340 → [NHS_NO] |
| Clinic | ORGANIZATION | Lakeview Clinic → [CLINIC] |
| Phone | PHONE_NUMBER | +44 7911 100128 → [PHONE] |
| Record ID | MEDICAL_RECORD_NUMBER | MRN 60734 → [MRN] |
Compliance achieved
- Removes identifiers under UK GDPR Art. 9 & DPA 2018.
- A plan produced under the Care Programme Approach and the Mental Health Act 1983 Code of Practice keeps its care-planning value once de-identified for training use.
- Runs offline, 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 treatment plans offline — see plans & start free →
Limitations & cautions
UK GDPR also expects no residual clue that could re-identify the person. The tool clears named identifiers. Unusual goal detail may still hint at one patient, so review and consider the motivated-intruder test.
Frequently asked questions
Can I reuse a real plan for training?
Yes, once it is de-identified. With every identifier stripped and the ICO Anonymisation Code satisfied, the file is no longer personal data and may serve as a safe teaching template for new care coordinators.
Does Mask differ from Redact for a care plan?
Mask keeps part of a value, like the last digits of a reference number. Redact removes it fully. Replace swaps in a steady label so the plan's structure still reads the same way across every training copy — pick whichever your reviewer needs.
Does the Care Programme Approach still apply to the de-identified copy?
No — CPA governs the live plan used in someone's actual care, not a training copy that no longer identifies anyone. Once de-identified to the ICO standard, the copy sits outside that framework and can be used as a general teaching example.