Enhancing Health: A National Study of Anonymised Linked Patient Data

• Research type

  Research Study

• Full title

  Enhancing Population Healthcare: A national OpenSAFELY study using anonymised linked healthcare data within a Secure research environment to inform clinical practice for maternity care, complex prescribing patterns, infections and self-harm

• IRAS ID

  349811

• Sponsor organisation

  University of Manchester

• Duration of Study in the UK

  3 years, 0 months, 0 days

• Research summary

  Translating research findings into routine clinical practice is a major challenge. The Learning Healthcare System (LHS) approach has been proposed to better integrate research into clinical practice. It involves iterations of data analysis, feedback to clinicians and implementation of quality improvement activities. This study will use the OpenSAFELY platform, which is a secure, transparent, open-source software platform for analysis of electronic NHS health records. The overall objective of this project is to develop LHS feedback for the management of four important clinical areas (antimicrobial resistance [AMR] and resistant infections, maternal and fetal health, self-harm, and polypharmacy). AMR is an important public health problem. The recent national AMR surveillance report reported significant differences in case reports of blood stream infections between levels of socioeconomic deprivation. There is need to better understand these risks. Maternal mortality rates are rising and there is a growing emphasis to better understand the maternal and fetal outcomes. But maternity care takes place across multiple healthcare settings and the accurate identification of pregnancies and their outcomes in digital NHS records is essential. Primary care clinicians have reported struggling to identify the individual needs and modifiable risk factors for people who have self-harmed. The identification and support of those at elevated suicide risk is a top priority for safety in primary care. Polypharmacy is common among older adults, which can significantly increase the risk of adverse drug reactions, which can lead to patient harm and hospitalisations. The LHS feedback to be developed in this study will include information on e.g. challenges in the current management in primary care, risk and predictors of adverse outcomes including in marginalised communities (such as deprivation) and impact over time of the COVID-19 pandemic. This feedback will provide background information without identifying individual practices and patients.

• REC name

  South West - Cornwall & Plymouth Research Ethics Committee

• REC reference

  25/SW/0037

• Date of REC Opinion

  2 Apr 2025

• REC opinion

  Favourable Opinion