Translating data into improved patient care

To date, information technology and ‘big data’ has not had a great impact on healthcare in the UK, despite the high volume of data that is currently held by the NHS.

Professor Morris began his presentation by highlighting how important it is for the NHS to start creating a digital infrastructure to ensure a sustainable health service in the future. He talked about the iconic Framingham Heart Study which was initiated in 1948, and which ran for 50 years, monitoring the heart health of 5,000 citizens over three generations. This study was a pioneer for many other data collection studies, and has had a huge impact on the understanding about the risk factors for high blood pressure, smoking, cholesterol and diabetes. It also identified links to heart attacks and stroke. “In 2003, Claude Lafont, when he was chief executive of the National Institutes of Health in the US, suggested that the findings of the Framingham study resulted in an average of four extra years of life,” said Prof Morris. “If we can achieve this with data from around 5,000 people, imagine what could be achieved with the data that we have available today.”

Current demographic data shows a rise in chronic disease, which informs us that the current health system is unsustainable. Indeed a study by Bartlett et al in 2012¹ shows that the management of patients with several chronic diseases is now the most important task facing health services in developed countries. Bartlett examined the distribution of multi-morbidity and of comorbidity of physical and mental health disorders, in relation to age and socioeconomic deprivation of a cross section of people registered with 314 medical practices in Scotland in 2007.