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The UKCRC R&D Advisory Group to Connecting for Health
In 2007, a UKCRC R&D Advisory Group to NHS Connecting for Health was established by Department of Health R&D Directorate and NHS Connecting for Health.
The aim of the group was to gather evidence to help make research a priority in the ongoing introduction of the NHS Care Records Service in England. Throughout its work, the advisory group collaborated with the Care Record Development Board’s working group on secondary uses. This ensured that issues relating to information governance arrangements were informed by requirements for secondary data uses of patient data and vice versa.
To carry out the Advisory Group’s objectives, four teams were commissioned to run simulation projects. These were carried out on behalf of the wider research community between October 2006 and January 2007.
The group chose four research applications to test the NHS Care Records Service’s suitability to support research:
- Observational epidemiology
- Clinical trials
- Surveillance (Pharmacovigilance)
- Prospective tracking of a known cohort
The group’s recommendations are outlined in the UKCRC Report of the Research Simulations, published in June 2007. These recommendations were welcomed by Lord Hunt, then the Minister of State for quality at the Department of Health, who sanctioned a programme of work the NHS Connecting for Health Research Capability Programme to take them forward.
The Secondary Uses Working Group of the Care Record Development Board had cross membership with the UKCRC R&D Advisory Group to Connecting for Health, ensuring that they were aware of each others’ activities. The working group’s report was published in August 2007. The CRDB closed in September 2007, however a new body, the National Information Governance Board for Health and Social Care, has taken over the function of the CRDB.
