Research in Focus | Data

Data holds the answers to some of the biggest questions in health. Researchers at Imperial College Healthcare have access to anonymised healthcare data from across the Trust and north-west London to help answer some of those questions, thanks to support from the NIHR Imperial Biomedical Research Centre (BRC).

The data systems at the Trust, known as iCARE and WSIC, allow researchers to safely and securely access routinely collected and non-identifiable patient data from across the hospital system so that they can better understand diseases and treatments and improve outcomes for local populations. These data systems are securely managed and governed by a committee that assesses each research study's potential benefit for the public and includes patient representatives as part of that.

In this video, Dr Erik Mayer, consultant surgeon and transformation chief clinical information officer, discusses the potential of data - alongside Dr Fu Siong Ng, consultant cardiologist and cardiac electrophysiologist, who explains how his latest study used data to help improve treatment of heart attack patients. In addition, public contributor Amrapali Amrapali explains why it's important for patients to be involved in the access to data.

Find out more about our research here: