Better, broader, safer: using health data for research and analysis

Overview

Professor Ben Goldacre was commissioned by the government in February 2021 to review how to improve safety and security in the use of health data for research and analysis. The report makes 185 recommendations that would benefit patients and the healthcare sector. The report is aimed at policy makers in the NHS and government, research funders and those who use the data for service planning, public health management and medical research. Patient representatives and the wider public may also have an interest in the report’s recommendations.

The report is informed by interviews, open sessions and deep dives with more than 100 stakeholders throughout academia and healthcare. The government’s response will be included in our upcoming health and social care data strategy, which was published in draft form in June 2021. This review is technical in detail and because of this it is presented at 3 levels of detail: executive summary – contains a short overview of high-level strategic opportunities summary – contains a longer overview of the opportunities, challenges and recommendations full text – contains a detailed explanation of the work with extensive findings from interviews and desk research, alongside practical descriptions of the mechanics of working with NHS data to help ensure informed discussion; and granular detail on the practical and technical aspects of recommendations where these are needed.

This content is available under the Open Government Licence v3.0

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