Health Data Research Service to be Hosted by Wellcome Trust
The Wellcome Trust is set to host the upcoming Health Data Research Service, which will provide data infrastructure at its Wellcome Genome Campus.
Health and Social Care Secretary Wes Streeting unveiled the initiative in Parliament, stating that the service would offer healthcare researchers a secure, unified access point to data from England’s health service. The project also aims to accelerate the setup of clinical trials to enhance patient care.
The UK Government will invest £500 million in the service, with the Wellcome Trust contributing an additional £100 million.
“This initiative will simplify access to medical research data by creating a secure, single access point,” Streeting explained. “Researchers will no longer need to navigate multiple systems or submit repeated applications for information related to the same project.”
“This approach will leverage NHS data to revolutionize research and drive breakthroughs that improve patient care,” he added, emphasizing collaboration with Wellcome and other stakeholders to ensure the service’s success.
The Wellcome Trust will operate the service at its Genome Campus near Cambridge, which houses organizations such as Genomics England and the Wellcome Sanger Institute. The campus is currently undergoing expansion.
Researchers currently face challenges accessing national and regional NHS datasets due to variations in data collection, linking, and storage processes. Multiple applications are often required to access different datasets.
Wellcome CEO John-Arne Røttingen remarked, “Simplifying the process of data analysis or identifying patients for clinical trials accelerates our understanding of illnesses and supports new treatment development.”
“Providing a secure, unified service for approved researchers eliminates the significant overhead of locating and comparing disparate datasets. This opens opportunities for patients to access innovative treatments via trials that would otherwise be difficult to organize,” he added.
The Sudlow Review, commissioned by England’s chief medical officer, the UK national statistician, and NHS England’s national transformation director, recommended creating the service.
