Prime Minister turbocharges medical research

On 07 April 2025 the Prime Minister announced that the Government and the Wellcome Trust will invest up to £600 million to create a new Health Data Research Service (HDRS). This groundbreaking initiative will deliver significant health benefits to the UK public and patients.

The Health Data Research Service will transform access to NHS data by providing a single UK-wide access point to national-scale datasets.

The HDRS builds on work across the Data for R&D Programme, including the NHS Research SDE Network. The SDE Network is already helping to converge more than 7,000 existing access points, crucial foundational work which HDRS will build on.

HDRS will streamline and simplify processes through a “single front door” system where researchers make standardised requests to access data, making the system simpler and more efficient to accelerate the speed at which new treatments and services start to benefit patients.

Wellcome Trust are one of the largest, most prominent and respected philanthropic organisations in the UK and one of the largest medical research charities globally. Visit their website to find out more about the Wellcome Trust.

You can read the full press release on the Gov.UK website.