First NHS trusts join Secure Data Environment

Approved researchers and analysts can help those responsible for planning services across health and care to use the data to spot trends, understand what communities need and design better services. It can also support the development of new treatments and technologies that ultimately improve patient care and outcomes.  

The North East and North Cumbria SDE is part of a national network of 11 SDE’s, developed by NHS England through the Data for Research and Development programme. The programme aims to create a secure infrastructure for health and care data research. 

The first Trusts to sign up to sharing data locally are: 

• North East Ambulance Service (NEAS) NHS Foundation Trust 

• North Cumbria Integrated Care NHS Foundation Trust 

• County Durham and Darlington NHS Foundation Trust 

• Cumbria, Northumberland, Tyne and Wear NHS Foundation Trust 

• South Tyneside and Sunderland NHS Foundation Trust 

NEAS has led the way, being the first of the group to sign up. Paul Nicholson, Director of Technology and Information from North East Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust, said:

“We’re proud to be the first NHS Trust to sign up to sharing data within the Secure Data Environment in the North East and North Cumbria. 

By safely and responsibly sharing this information, we’re helping to unlock insights that can improve care across our region.  

Linking health and care data allows us to better understand our patient needs, identify gaps in services, and directly supports research that leads to a positive impact in the real world.” 

Bringing together data from multiple health and care providers into one secure area streamlines the process of safely accessing the data.   

Instead of applying to each organisation separately to provide the data that they need for each project, researchers and analysts can apply once. This single process is overseen by the North East and North Cumbria Integrated Care Board.  

Each project is assessed against the ‘Five Safes’:

• Safe projects: Is the use of data appropriate? 

• Safe people: Are users trusted to use it properly? 

• Safe settings: Is access secure and controlled? 

• Safe data: Is the risk of identifying individuals minimised? 

• Safe outputs: Are the results safe to publish? 

The NENC SDE programme team continues working with other health and care organisations in the region and expects more to start sharing data into the SDE soon.  

Work has also begun with GP practices to evaluate how primary care data can safely be included, with strong engagement and communication with service users across primary care. 

Mark Walsh, Programme Lead for the North East and North Cumbria Secure Data Environment, said:

“We’re delighted that our first NHS trusts have committed to making data available securely for research and planning.  

The SDE creates huge opportunities. Many of the answers to our health and care challenges are already found in the data we collect every day. 

Linking accurate data across ambulance, mental health and hospital services in the first instance will help us better understand and meet the needs of our population in the North East and North Cumbria region.”