The NHS has been urged to stop handing confidential data over to immigration officials, with claims sensitive records have been treated “like the Yellow Pages”.

The Health and Social Care Committee said it had serious concerns about the way information held by the health service has been used to trace immigrants.

Dr Sarah Wollaston, head of the committee, called for the suspension of an agreement which has allowed officials to track down thousands of immigration offenders.

Requests have been made by the Home Office if immigrants have absconded from immigration control, exceeded their right to stay in the UK or missed a reporting requirement.

Details handed over include patients’ names, date of birth, last known address and their GP’s contact information.

Dr Wollaston said information was being handed over routinely, when it could not be justified.

She said: “There is a clear ethical principle that address data held for the purposes of health and care should only be shared for law enforcement purposes in the case of serious crime. NHS Digital's decision to routinely share information with the Home Office with a lower threshold is entirely inappropriate.

"This behaviour calls into question NHS Digital’s ability to robustly act on behalf of patients in the event of other data sharing requests including from other government departments in the future.”