As one of the largest NHS organisations in the country, Newcastle Hospitals holds huge amounts of data on care, treatment, outcomes and services. This information is currently stored in different locations and on a range of software systems, making it difficult to collate, organise and use in the best possible way. To allow better use of this valuable resource, Newcastle Hospitals has agreed two new partnerships, which will provide access to the specialist skills and secure technology needed to improve the quality of the data, making it easier to use for research and development.
This will allow Newcastle Hospitals’ doctors, nurses and scientists to better understand their own data and what works best to improve patient care and develop services. It will also make it easier to help academic and industry researchers who are looking to improve care and discover new treatments.
Typically, data that’s good enough for research only comes via formal clinical trials, which mainly represent a small proportion of patients. This can mean crucial information and insight is missing, leaving gaps in knowledge and missed opportunities to tackle health inequalities.
The expertise of both data partners will help turn a wide range of information – with all individual patient identifying details removed - into anonymised datasets that could be used for purposes such as: predicting which patients may be most at risk of symptoms worsening; treatment of side effects; the best timing for certain drugs to be used; the development of new medicines; or when to make the most effective changes to care plans.
Dr Vicky McFarlane-Reid, director for commercial development and innovation for Newcastle Hospitals says: “High-quality data can be a vital part of the healthcare mix, giving a clear steer about how to provide the best health outcomes for patients.
“If we use good data in our planning and on a day-to-day basis, it can play an important role in improving services, developing treatments and providing information about how patients are responding to their care.
“Through our data partnerships, we’ll be able to refine how and when we provide certain types of care, help industry to develop new drugs and medicines and ultimately improve health through combining the expertise and skills of doctors and nurses with better statistical information and insight.”
The partnership agreements have been signed following a detailed assessment, which considered the expertise of the companies and their approach to data handling and security, and with approval of the NHS Health Research Authority.
There are strict controls on who can access the anonymised data produced by the partnerships, and on what they can do with it. Access can only be granted following a robust approval process and must be for purposes with a clear benefit to patients. If they wish to do so, patients have the right to opt-out of sharing their data.
The two organisations partnering with Newcastle Hospitals are Flatiron Health UK and Promptly Health.
Flatiron Health will provide access to innovative processes and technology to translate patient information into high quality, research-ready datasets that can help improve treatment, care and quality of life for people with cancer. Through a team of clinicians, epidemiologists, software engineers and scientists, Flatiron can turn fragmented data, for example differently formatted clinical letters and reports, into high-quality information, held in a secure data environment, that can then be used to find improvements for cancer treatment and care.
Dr Arun Sujenthiran, clinical lead and senior medical director at Flatiron Health UK said: “We are thrilled to partner with Newcastle Hospitals on this collaboration, which represents a pivotal step forward in reshaping how we approach cancer research and care in the UK. By combining our strengths, we aim to accelerate discovery, broaden access to clinical trials, and generate meaningful insights that reflect the diversity of the UK cancer population. Together, we are not only enhancing our understanding of how treatments work across a range of cancers but also unlocking new opportunities to serve patients more equitably and effectively.”
Promptly Health will help to progress data-driven research and innovation, working within the secure data environment of the NHS. They will use their expertise and technology to harmonise data into high-quality information and evidence to help plan care and services. With a particular focus on cardiovascular, diabetes and rare diseases, they help to target and optimise clinical research by identifying the right sites and populations for research topics.
Pedro Ramos, CEO at Promptly Health said: “Newcastle is the birthplace of several inspiring medical breakthroughs. The hospitals lead some of the UK’s most pioneering medical research in the areas of kidney research, mitochondrial and neuromuscular disorders. We see this partnership as a responsibility to support this extraordinary infrastructure with technology that can deliver accessible, secure, high-quality data. Together, I am confident we will be able to accelerate discovery, enable more collaborative research, and ultimately drive faster, life-changing innovations for the benefit of patients and their families.”
Any commercial researchers, for example pharmaceutical companies, wishing to access the data would be charged to do so, with income generated for Newcastle Hospitals being invested into NHS care.
