North East North Cumbria Secure Data Environment
Research type
Research Database
IRAS ID
341429
Contact name
Graham Evans
Contact email
Research summary
North East North Cumbria Secure Data Environment
REC name
South Central - Oxford C Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
24/SC/0197
Date of REC Opinion
10 Jul 2024
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion
Data collection arrangements
The North East and North Cumbria region received £8.7 million from NHS England to establish a 'Sub-National Secure Data Environment' as part of a nationwide initiative. This programme, funded until March 2025, is based on recommendations from the Goldacre Review and the Data Saves Lives Strategy, which aim to improve access to health and care data for research and development purposes.
Instead of traditional data sharing methods, the initiative adopts a data access model, allowing researchers and analysts to work with the data in a secure cloud-based platform. This shift prioritises accessing data within a safe environment over making copies of it. The platform strictly controls data access, ensuring that only approved projects and trained users can access the data.
This overcomes a significant challenge in getting access to data for research and development, with a new simplified governance – moving from over 380 data controllers to one. This programme will allow for research and development to be carried out at scale, enabling us to improve health and outcomes for people living in the North East and North Cumbria and beyond.Research programme
Digital Health approaches are underpinned by areas of research excellence and digital infrastructure in the North East and North Cumbria region. We anticipate the North East North Cumbria SDE will support a wide range of responsible research and innovation activities in health and social care, investigating where digital health approaches may provide improvements in health and other benefits to populations, addressing evidenced health inequalities in the North East and North Cumbria region and adopting a people-centred approach.
Research database title
North East North Cumbria Secure Data Environment
Establishment organisation
North East North Cumbria Integrated Care Board
Establishment organisation address
Pemberton House, Colima Avenue
Sunderland
SR5 3XB