Minutes de-identification is the removal of personal information from committee records under UK GDPR Art. 9 & DPA 2018. anonym.plus does this on your own device. The decisions and actions stay, but cited cases and attendees are not named.
When this applies
Minutes from a quality or drugs and therapeutics committee cite patient cases by name and list who attended. Before wide circulation, those names come out while the actions stay.
How anonym.plus handles it
- Open the document in anonym.plus on your device.
- Local OCR reads any scanned hand-written pages.
- It flags cited patient cases and the attendee list.
- Confirm the flags and keep the action items.
- Swap each name for a label, or black it out.
- Save the clean document. The source stays local.
What you need to provide
- The document (DOCX, PDF, or scan).
- An operator (Replace keeps the notes readable).
- Optional allow-list for committee and motion labels.
Patient data entity types detected
| Category | anonym.plus entity type | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Patient | PERSON | case: H. Ali → [PATIENT] |
| Staff | PERSON | present: Dr. Brandt → [MEMBER] |
| Dates | DATE_TIME | met 14/03/2026 → [DATE] |
| Record IDs | MEDICAL_RECORD_NUMBER | NHS No. 118 430 6641 → [NHS_NUMBER] |
| Location | LOCATION | Boardroom 2, Guy’s & St Thomas’ → [LOCATION] |
| Contact | EMAIL_ADDRESS | h.brandt@example.nhs.uk → [EMAIL] |
Compliance achieved
- Strips personal data under UK GDPR Art. 9 & DPA 2018.
- Runs offline, so no supplier contract is needed.
- Clears cited patient cases and the named attendees.
Anonymise committee minutes offline — see plans & start free →
Limitations & cautions
Minutes summarise cases tersely, so one line can carry a unique clue, like a rare event on a known date. Review such entries. Attendee names are personal information and go too, even though they are not patient health records.
Frequently asked questions
Do committee minutes hold personal information?
Yes, when they cite a patient case by name or NHS number. They also list attendees, whose records are personal. Both are cleared before the document circulates widely.
Do the decisions survive?
Yes. Motions, votes, and action items stay. Only the identifying detail changes.
Can I clean hand-written pages?
Yes. Local OCR reads scanned pages, so names written by hand are caught.