Public FAQs

The North West Secure Data Environment is a secure platform that supports health and social care research. It applies the highest standards of privacy and security for NHS health and social care data for research and development. It is part of an NHS network of secure data environments aiming to improve innovation in England.

Read more on our About the North West SDE and NHS Research Secure Data Environment Network pages.

Approved researchers access de-identified (names and addresses removed) health and social care data. They are only able to analyse specific data relevant to their study within the SDE. They are unable to take anything off the platform without NHS approval.

The NHS checks and approves all reports once research is complete. At this point researchers’ access to the platform ends.

Read more on our About health research and How data is protected pages.

Every time people see a doctor, other NHS professional or use a care home, information is stored to support their use of those services.

Researchers are interested in this data because it can help them to understand people’s experiences and how effective different medicines, treatments or services are. This can lead to the development of new medicines, treatments or ways of working to make things better.

Read more on our About health research and How data is improving health and services pages.

Only approved users, with approved projects, will have access to analyse data. NHS data experts extract and control and manage users’ access throughout.

Read more on our How data is protected page.

All NHS and care organisations are committed to keeping people’s information safe. They must be transparent about how it is used. Strict legal frameworks determine how health and care data can, or cannot, be used to protect privacy, security and confidentiality. The North West SDE also adheres to the Five Safes Framework.

Read more on our How data is protected page.

SDEs collect, store and de-identify NHS data for research in a secure way. High quality research can be conducted in a way that the NHS controls and manages throughout. This will encourage innovation that can make health and care services better for everyone.

Read more on our About health research and How data is improving health and services pages.

Researchers must complete extensive applications detailing their planned studies and how they can deliver public health benefits. If NHS experts are happy, these applications are reviewed by the Data Access Committees to make a final decision on whether access should be granted.

Read more on our Data Access Committees page.

Researchers access de-identified versions of your data to support their research projects. This information will show what medications, treatments and services you use without revealing your identity.

This can be useful to show how effective different health and care services are working, paving the way for innovation. Our Data Use Register shows all the research projects the North West SDE is supporting.

Read more on our How data is protected page.

The North West SDE has a Section 251 Confidentiality Advisory Group and Research Ethics Committee (Research Ethics Service and Research Ethics Committees – Health Research Authority (hra.nhs.uk) approval, which provides the legal basis for using and sharing health and care data under the common law duty of confidentiality. All NHS data must be looked after carefully in line with the law. More information around the legislation protecting NHS data is on the NHS England website.

Read more in our Privacy Policy.

Academic institutions and industry leaders can bring their specialist knowledge to health and care research to deliver stronger service improvements sooner. It is important for the NHS to work with these partners to support strong innovation.

Read more on our About health research and How data is improving health and services pages.

No. The NHS owns and manages the data throughout. Researchers are given access to it for a set time period to complete their studies. Once research finishes, access is withdrawn.

Read more on our How data is protected and About health research pages.

Anyone who wishes to can opt out of their information being used for research. The only important thing to consider is that if enough people do this, it could affect the quality of the research and ultimately reduce the possible benefits.

There are different ways to opt out and you can learn more on our Opting out page.

SDEs are unrelated to the Federated Data Platform (FDP). SDEs use health and care data to improve research. The FDP is software that connects data from different sources to make services more effective for patients.

You can read more about the FDP on the NHS England website.

Our For SDE users section is designed to support people looking to complete research on the North West SDE. Those pages include information about the services we provide, technical details and the available data.

This information can be viewed by everyone but we have designed the website in this way to make it easier for people to find what they are looking for.

In ‘What’s going on’ you can find latest news, as well as case studies or publications as they become available.

‘Get involved’ is the best place to find out about our patient and public involvement and engagement work, our user group and any other opportunities to get more involved with our work.

Our ‘About the North West SDE’ pages detail the areas we cover, our partners and the wider SDE network.

NHS and care organisations are committed to keeping people’s information safe and being transparent about how it is used. There are strict rules around how data can, and cannot be used and shared to protect privacy, security, and confidentiality. Providing access to data must have an explicit aim to benefit the public, the health and care system, or both. Data must never be shared for insurance or marketing purposes.

You can find out more information on the How data is protected page.

Under data protection law, you have rights including:

• Your right of access
• Your right to rectification
• Your right to erasure
• Your right to restriction of processing
• Your right to object to processing
• Your right to data portability
• Your right in relation to automated decision making and profiling

Each Data Controller within the SDE is accountable for complying with the above individual rights.

You can find out more information on the My privacy page.