Northern Care Alliance has joined the UK Health Data Research Alliance to develop best practice around the sharing and use of health data.
Along with two other new members – Europe’s largest cancer centre the Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust and the National Pathology Imaging Cooperatrive – NCA will work with 67 existing Alliance members that represent the UK’s leading healthcare and research organisations. Through the Alliance, members are working collaboratively to help researchers address some of the most difficult and important health challenges facing the UK through establishing best practice in the use of health data.
Professor Steve Woby, NCA’s Managing Director of Research & Innovation, said: “NCA is committed to providing responsible access to health data for research and innovation purposes and we are delighted to join the Alliance and look forward to working with partners from across the healthcare sector to further develop best practice in this important area.”
Paola Quattroni, Head of Alliance Strategy and Engagement for HDR UK, says: “We warmly welcome these new members to the UK Health Data Research Alliance and the rich data they provide. Having them onboard helps deliver our mission to make significant improvements to people’s lives through ethical health data research.”
New members help develop and co-ordinate the adoption of tools, techniques, conventions, technologies, and standards that enable the use of health data in a trustworthy and ethical way for research and innovation.
Research based on this data enables new discoveries and improved understanding of disease that reflects the diverse demographics of the UK population. This in turn provides fairer access to the latest treatments and medical technologies, benefiting as many people as possible.
All members are invited to develop best practice and standards in areas such as privacy, transparency, public engagement, inclusivity and governance to ensure that health data is shared and used responsibly by researchers and innovators.
The Alliance is convened by Health Data Research UK (HDR UK) and is part of the UK-wide capability for the responsible use of health data for research and innovation, funded by the Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund (ISCF).
Any requests to access data held by Alliance members on the gateway for research and innovation will continue to go through their existing protocols to ensure strict security and data privacy.