Realising the research benefits of NHS IT
Programmes
There is enormous potential to benefit health
through careful and appropriately governed use of the IT systems
that underpin healthcare management. The National Health
Service means that the UK should be able to take a global lead on
doing this. The approach to NHS IT systems varies across the UK and
the work on maximising the use of these systems for research is at
different stages of development.
NHS Connecting for Health
England has a population of over 50
million. The developing NHS IT programme in England, being
delivered through NHS Connecting for Health (NHS CfH), offers clear
opportunities for health-related research.
A UKCRC R&D
Advisory Group to NHS CfH was established by Department of
Health R&D Directorate and NHS CfH to ensure that research is a
priority for ongoing development of the NHS Care Records Service.
The first step was a programme of work to provide supporting
evidence for this goal. This is outlined in the group’s report, published in June 2007. The
recommendations from this report are now being taken forward by the
NHS CfH Research Capability Programme.
A
PowerPoint slide giving an overview of this work is also
available to download.
Ensuring a UK-wide
approach
There is a clear opportunity to promote the
development of interoperability between both clinical and research
support systems on a UK-wide basis. To ensure that this
happens there is a need to understand the similarities and the
differences between the approaches in the four countries and to
identify ways to ensure valid data exchange and
transfer. UKCRC Partners are committed to working together to
make sure that this happens.
Complementary activity
The Care Record
Development Board (CRDB) established a working group to
consider the issues raised by using patient data for purposes other
than direct patient care. An important function of this group was
to advise the CRDB, and through it the National Programme for IT,
on how the NHS Care Records Service can support medical research,
population health and health management whilst complying with the
Care
records Guarantee and secure and ethical use of patient
records.
Cross membership between the CRDB Secondary
Uses Working Group and the UKCRC R&D Advisory Group to
Connecting for Health was an important factor in ensuring these
complementary activities were informed by one anothers’ work. A
report of this working group was published in August 2007 and is
available to
download.
The functions of the CRDB have now been taken over by a new
body, the National Information Governance Board for Health and
Social Care (NIGB).