Remove barriers to access to NHS data to save patients’ lives – review

Barriers to access to NHS data must be removed so they can be used to improve patient care and carry out important research into diseases such as dementia, cancer and heart disease, a review has found.

Patients and their families are becoming frustrated because politicians and health leaders are not making the most of the UK’s wealth of health data, said Professor Katie Sudlow OBE, who led the independent review.

Britain is unique because its population of 68 million is largely covered by the National Health Service and health data is collected over several decades, says a report commissioned by senior government health officials.

But access to existing health data is difficult or slow and can take many months or even years, making it difficult to use it to improve people’s health and lives, the Sudlow Review found.

She added: “This review shows that achieving this right is a great reward for our own care and an effective health system for everyone.

“We need to recognize our national health data for what it is: critical national infrastructure that can keep the nation healthy.”

Professor Sudlow was asked to map healthcare data in four UK countries and assess how the data could be better used to improve health, while maintaining privacy and trust.

England’s chief medical officer Professor Sir Chris Whitty, who commissioned the review from Vin Diwakar, NHS England’s national director for transformation, and Professor Sir Ian Diamond, UK national statistician, said: “Using data from multiple sources is essential to improve ongoing care for patients. , make the NHS more efficient and improve outcomes for future patients through research.

“This report will help us use data more effectively for current and future patients while maintaining patient privacy.”

Baroness Gillian Merron, Health Secretary for Life Sciences and Innovation, said: “We need an NHS that can harness the power of research and innovation so we can provide cutting-edge medicines and diagnostics to patients, ultimately saving lives.

“As part of our 10-year health plan, we will transform the NHS from an analogue to a digital system, accelerating research through secure access to data, and boosting growth and investment in the economy.

“I would like to thank Professor Sudlow and his team for their work on this review, which highlights the enormous potential we can unlock in our health service and the recommendations on how this can be done.”