Independent charity The Health Foundation has launched a Networked Data Lab to address the biggest healthcare problems facing the UK.
Five organisations have joined the lab which brings together analytical teams from across the country.
It will focus on the most pressing challenges, such as understanding how to mitigate the impact of Covid-19 on vulnerable people who are shielding or identifying the unmet need of those with severe mental illness.
The partner organisations include:
- The Aberdeen Centre for Health Data Science (ACHDS) which includes NHS Grampian and the University of Aberdeen
- Public Health Wales, NHS Wales Informatics Service (NWIS), Swansea University (SAIL Databank) and Social Care Wales (SCW)
- Imperial College Health Partners (ICHP), Institute of Global Health Innovation (IGHI), Imperial College London (ICL), and North West London CCGs
- Liverpool CCG, Healthy Wirral Partnership and Citizens Advice Bureau
- Leeds CCG and Leeds City Council
Sarah Deeny, assistant director of data analytics at the Health Foundation, said: “What has been clear throughout the Covid-19 crisis, is that high-quality and comprehensive data and information are often the key to solving our most pressing health and care issues.
“Data has played a fundamental role in understanding the challenges presented by the virus and in finding innovative ways to solve problems.
“But these complex challenges extend beyond the current crisis – the same innovation will be needed in future to ensure that health and care services meet people’s needs.”
The lab aims to improve access to a wealth of fragmented data sources from GPs, hospitals and local authorities.
The partner organisations were chosen for their proven success in successfully linking data locally.
By combining their expertise the Health Foundation is aiming to create unique insights from the data to help national and local decision makers to better understand the needs of their community, improve services and design innovative approaches to delivering care.
31 July 2020 @ 19:26
Will any patient whose personal data will be used by this initiative be asked for their consent? Will any patient whose personal data will be used by this initiative even be aware of that fact? One may probably assume that the answer to both questions is negative. Since coronavirus conveniently provided an excuse for anything, we have probably passed beyond the time when there was even a vestige of pretense that patients have any information rights or any control whatsoever over the “once upon a time” confidentiality of their medical records, in the “once upon a time” sense of the word, before it was redefined by the NHS to mean absolutely nothing. Personal health data has become a commodity owned by the state and freely available to anyone making a claim to be doing something to improve healthcare. if what they are doing involves treating health data as such a commodity, then their claim is self contradictory. Destroying the right to confidentialy of medical records is not improving healthcare.