At its quarterly board meeting on Wednesday 26 January 2022, the UK Health Data Research Alliance welcomes six new organisations, bringing the total number of members to 67. The newly joined member organisations are:

  • Research Data Scotland (RDS)
    Research Data Scotland (RDS) brings together expertise, resource and capabilities from a range of existing data-led programmes across the public sector in Scotland to help answer complex policy questions about people, places and business.
  • Alleviate
    Alleviate is The Advanced Pain Discovery Platform (APDP) Data Hub. It is transforming UK pain datasets to be Findable, Accessible, Interoperable and Reusable (FAIR) and is providing expert data engineering, to enhance responsible, timely and trustworthy analysis by researchers and innovators.
  • Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust (MFT)
    MFT is the largest NHS trust in England and a leading provider of specialist healthcare services. Its ten hospitals are home to hundreds of world class clinicians, researchers, and academic staff, committed to finding patients the best care and treatments. MFT’s vast data assets including patient records, imaging, and diagnostic modalities, across a wide range of clinical specialities.
  • University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire (UHCW)
    UHCW is one of the largest acute teaching Trusts in the UK, comprising University Hospital in Coventry and the Hospital of St Cross in Rugby and working in partnership with Warwick University Medical School and Coventry University.
  • Cardiff University
    Cardiff University is recognised in independent government assessments as one of Britain’s leading teaching and research universities and is a member of the Russell Group of the UK’s most research- intensive universities. Its datasets include linked versions of national administrative education data and health data for England and Wales, including the paediatric and adult diabetes audits.
  • University of Nottingham
    Digital Health in the School of Medicine is an exciting new platform between the University and Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust (an existing Alliance member). It will build on the excellence of the Advanced Data Analysis Centre (ADAC), which is housed within the Digital Research Service, to provide data-driven research and innovation within academia and industry. ADAC has a proven track record of undertaking research on a range of projects, including CO-CONNECT.

The UK Health Data Research Alliance (“The Alliance”) is an independent alliance of leading healthcare and research organisations united to establish best practice for the ethical use of UK health data for research at scale. Members come from across the healthcare and research sector, including the NHS, medical research charities, academia, health data research hubs and AI Centres of Excellence.

The Alliance’s work to develop a unified and standardised approach to the use of health data across the UK and increase the range and quality of data that is available is delivering notable benefits for research and innovation, including:

  • Members listing over 750 datasets for access request via the Health Data Research Innovation Gateway, the UK’s unified platform to discover and request access to health data
  • Publication of the key paper “Principles and Best Practices for Trusted Research Environments” including a supporting foreword from NHSX – which sets out a common approach for a trustworthy ecosystem of data access for health research
  • A series of best practice recommendations on how to engage and involve patients and members of the public to improve transparency and demonstrate trustworthiness; based on recommendations from HDR UK’s Public Advisory Board.

By the end of January 2022, the Alliance will publish its recommendations for a consistent standard for Data Use Registers; and launching the service that puts these principles into practice, allowing Alliance members to host and manage their Data Use Registers via the Innovation Gateway.

David Seymour, Alliance Executive Director, Health Data Research UK (HDR UK), said:

“We are delighted to welcome our latest Alliance members that come from the NHS, academia and national public bodies. By pooling and sharing our expertise, we are developing a much-needed unified approach to the key aspects of health data research. We look forward to working together to make 2022 another year of progress for the sector, supporting research and innovation by making health data available in a consistent, efficient, secure and trustworthy way.”.

Visit the Alliance website

Further information

The UK Health Data Research Alliance

The UK Health Data Research Alliance (the ‘Alliance’) is an independent partnership of leading healthcare and research organisations united to establish best practice for the ethical use of UK health data for research at scale.

The Alliance develops and co-ordinates the adoption of tools, techniques, conventions, technologies, and designs that enable the use of health data in a trustworthy and ethical way for research and innovation.

By combining expertise and a shared commitment to work collaboratively, the Alliance is helping researchers to answer some of the most difficult questions and address the most important health challenges faced in the UK.

The Alliance is convened by Health Data Research UK (HDR UK) and 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).