EOE SDE

• Research type

  Research Database

• IRAS ID

  340157

• Contact name

  Ari Ercole

• Contact email

  ari.ercole@nhs.net

• Research summary

  East of England Secure Data Environment for Research

• REC name

  East of England - Cambridge East Research Ethics Committee

• REC reference

  24/EE/0200

• Date of REC Opinion

  19 Dec 2024

• REC opinion

  Further Information Favourable Opinion

• Data collection arrangements

  Data available through the EoE SDE will include all patients who have an electronic patient record at participating NHS organisations based in the EoE and who have not opted out. The data available through the EOE SDE will initially include structured clinical data collected as part of routine care, subject always to approval from the EOE SNSDE Data Access Committee.

  The types of data surfaced to researchers, where approved by the data access committee, will include:
  • Demographic information, such as age and ethnicity
  • Medication history and dosage
  • Diagnoses
  • Procedures
  • Investigations

  Data for approved projects will be extracted from clinical systems at each participating NHS organisation, following each organisation’s existing local process. As the EOE SDE matures, it is anticipated that more uniform automated data extraction processes will be put in place to facilitate more efficient, but equally secure, data extraction and transfer.
  

• Research programme

  NHS data could facilitate transformative research such as identifying novel risk factors for illness, or development of Artificial intelligence models to improve clinical services. NHS England have committed to delivering a regional network of interoperable Secure Data Environments (SDE’s) as part of the Data Saves Lives strategy. This protocol covers the East of England (EoE) SDE The EoE SDE aims to complement, not replace, existing structures, organisations and initiatives within the East of England and build on the expertise within the region. The added value of the EoE SDE includes providing a secure, scalable compute platform and bringing together data within the region that may otherwise be prohibitively difficult for individual researchers to bring together. Specially, the EoE SDE aims to: 1. Work towards whole region coverage and link data from different NHS providers which may otherwise be difficult to bring together 2. Provide a secure technical environment with transparent, consistent and proportionate data access processes which can build and maintain public trust 3. Facilitate high quality research to improve public health, which may otherwise be impossible to undertake without linked regional data 4. Provide opportunities for organisations within the region to contribute to research projects, including organisations with less mature digital infrastructures, who may otherwise not be able to take part in research initiatives 5. Provide equitable access to NHS data for researchers

• Research database title

  East of England Secure Data Environment for Research

• Establishment organisation

  Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

• Establishment organisation address

  R&D Department, Box 277, Addenbrooke's Hospital

  Cambridge

  CB2 0QQ