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Data users of the Secure Data Environment

About the North East and North Cumbria Secure Data Environment

The North East and North Cumbria Secure Data Environment is currently under development, with a technical platform already in place. The governance structure that will support the programme is being developed and is expected to be operational in early 2025. 

We are also developing our data request and enquiry processes and will be moving towards a more structured approach in the future. 

Several test projects are currently using the Secure Data Environment platform to access and use data. Until the regional governance is fully established, data requests and approvals are managed on a case-by-case basis. 

Key features 

  • Secure Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) on a cloud-based platform 
  • 'Bring your own', synthetic and unpublished datasets on request 
  • Python and R statistical languages plus other available tools. 
  • Bespoke consultancy services 

Platform services 

A secure workspace within the Secure Data Environment will be implemented for each project. The standard package for a secure workspace includes a cloud-based VDI providing access to an instance of the platform, a suite of included tools, and support capabilities 

  • Secure Windows (Azure) VDI   
  • Standard 4 v cores and 32GB of memory  

Office 365 (Excel, Word, PowerPoint, OneNote) |  Power BI desktop |   SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS) | Azure Data Studio |   RStudio  |  R Statistical Language |  Git based repository and Tortoise Git | Nexus Repository Manager | Python | VDI - Windows (Azure supported) | Visual Studio (VS) Code  | Pandoc  |  Jupyter Notebook  | Conda  | Mamba  | OpenStreetMap tile server  |  dbt core 

Azure Data Factory (ADF) |Azure Machine Learning (ML) | Stata  

  • Submit a request for a third-party tool that is not part of the secure workspace standard package 
  • Bring Your Own Code : Users have the ability to request to bring their own code to be used within the Secure Workspace. 
  • Computing Power Review / Increase : Increased compute power to suit your needs. 

All requests for additional services are subject to Secure Data Environment approval. 

We offer a range of consultancy services to support research project. These include, but are not limited to: 

Bid Writing | Clinical Support and Expertise | Contracting and Legal | Intellectual Property | Information Governance | Data Access Application | Financial advice and Support | Specialist roles (e.g. Data Analyst | Data Scientist) | Feasibility | Evaluation Services | Project Support and Management | Regulatory Support and Ethics | Retrospective studies | Market Research and Horizon Scanning | PPIE | Communications and Marketing.  

Data services 

We can provide curated published datasets in the following categories: 

  • Primary care (pipeline) 
  • Secondary care (pipeline) 
  • Social care (pipeline) 
  • Demographics 
  • Mental health (pipeline) 
  • Imaging (pipeline)  

In addition to curated datasets, we also offer the following services: 

  • Bring Your Own Data (publicly available / reference) 
  • Pseudo at source capability to flow provider data  
  • Request for an unpublished, bespoke Dataset 

A full list of available datasets will be published shortly on the HDR UK Health Data Gateway. 

Case study: AI Multiply

Find out how one of our project's is using data on the North East and North Cumbria Secure Data Environment. 

National Secure Data Environment Network

We are one of 11 Secure Data Environments around the country. Each of the regional Secure Data Environments are at different levels of maturity in terms of the data and services that are available. Find out more the national Secure Data Environments network.

 

Test projects

Our Secure Data Environment programme is currently testing some initial projects. These include the Newcastle University Patient Safety Research Collaboration which is carrying out several projects with the Secure Data Environment.

  • One is mapping data to understand more about the care needs of older people who have recently been in hospital
  • Whether patients in deprived communities are less likely to receive innovative cancer treatments such as immunotherapy.
  • They are developing an artificial intelligence (AI) system to identify high risk glaucoma patients to ensure they are followed up and scheduled appropriately.
  • One project is assessing whether using digital photography and AI can improve waiting times for skin cancer patients.
  • One study is looking to find out the impact on patients when they are on five or more medications

A separate research collaborative is also using data in the Secure Data Environment and artificial intelligence to identify people at risk of having more than one long term health condition. It is linking the healthcare data with other sources to understand the wider picture.

Contact Details 

For projects interested in using the North East and North Cumbria Secure Data Environment, email the team at: nencicb.sde@nhs.net to discuss costs and feasibility. 

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