June 23, 2021

expert reaction to new draft data strategy, ‘Data saves lives: reshaping health and social care with data’, published by NHSX

The new draft strategy, published yesterday by NHSX, claims to set out ambitious plans to harness the potential of data in health and care, while maintaining the highest standards of privacy and ethics.

Prof Bissan Al-Lazikani, Head of Data Science at The Institute of Cancer Research, London, said:

“Making NHS data available for research, securely and appropriately, is vital to empower scientific advances that will transform the lives of people across the UK.  For people with cancer, it can help to boost early detection, make it increasingly possible to predict how their disease may progress, and determine which treatments are most likely to prolong their life.

“We welcome the ambition within this draft strategy to ensure the UK has the most advanced and data-enabled clinical research environment in the world.  The technological solution to deliver this needs to be secure, efficiently implemented and easily deployable.  We know that many people with cancer are eager for their data to be utilised.  We must do all we can to keep the individual in the driving seat on how their data are used, and to partner with patients to harness data’s huge potential for cancer research.”

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/data-strategy-to-support-delivery-of-patient-centred-care

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/data-saves-lives-reshaping-health-and-social-care-with-data-draft

Declared interests

None received.