A new service has been launched to make it quicker and simpler for approved researchers to examine some of Scotland’s huge public sector datasets, with the hope that being able to look at the unidentifiable data from tens of thousands of people could give new insights into – and eventually answers to – some of Scotland’s major health challenges.

The Researcher Access Service is a streamlined end-to-end digital service that will enable academics and data users conducting research for the public good to view secure data without having to deal with some of the long delays  of the past.

Getting access to the sorts of information routinely collected by the NHS and other public bodies, using a system which prevents any individual from being identified, allows researchers to look for trends and common factors behind diseases across a whole population group – with the possibility of developing new insights into treatment pathways and better service planning.

Data is, however, often siloed in individual systems across different organisations and is not in a format that makes it difficult to look at and gets in the way of bringing different datasets together. Researchers are often discouraged by the complex and lengthy process before they can start a study, leading to missed opportunities in both research and improving policy.

The Scottish government commissioned Research Data Scotland (RDS) to address this by building a new end-to-end digital process for researchers and data users to access secure data for public good.

Minister for Community Wealth and Public Finance, Tom Arthur, says, alongside supporting research, the new service will help Scotland build an evidence base to allow policymakers to understand better both cause and effect when making decisions:

“The Researcher Access Service is an important step towards the modernisation and improvement of our data access and linkage capabilities in Scotland by ensuring there is a timely and managed process from when researchers apply for data to when they can access data. ”

Researchers from approved organisations can apply to use one or more of the most widely used nine datasets, including hospital admissions, prescribing, emergency attendances and births.

Further datasets will be added in areas like education, social work, and justice through discussions with data controllers.

The Researcher Access Service is being developed and run with Public Health Scotland’s electronic Data Research and Innovation Service (eDRIS), and has been designed around the needs of researchers and data users.

RDS says one clear benefit is the introduction of the first fully digital platform for requesting access to datasets in the Scottish National Safe Haven, enabling researchers to submit and track their application from start to finish via an online portal.

CEO of RDS, Professor Roger Halliday, says funding from the Scottish government and the UK Research Councils, to help launch of the Researcher Access Service, gives momentum to the work to unlock data in Scotland to save time, money and lives:

“To be innovative and meet today’s challenges, the public sector needs evidence from across a multitude of sectors to help inform decision-making.   

 “I’m delighted to mark the first release of the Researcher Access Service, which will make it quicker and simpler to provide streamlined, lawful, fair, and safe access to data at pace for the public good.”  

Carole Morris, Head of Data and Modelling Services at Public Health Scotland says her organisation are deeply embedding in taking the new service forward:

“We are proud to be a key partner in RDS and are working very closely with them to improve and streamline the access routes for the research community wishing to access public sector data to undertake research that will, ultimately, improve the health and social wellbeing of the population.

“Additionally. RDS has commissioned PHS to develop, implement and subsequently operate the RAS on their behalf through our researcher support services and to provide access to the data through our secure national safe haven. This is being carried out by our highly experienced eDRIS team in a trusted research environment.”

To help test the Researcher Access Service, RDS has created the Accelerator Awards and funded around £50,000 to three projects and gave them exclusive access to the platform. These projects will use the new Researcher Access Service to link Public Health Scotland datasets for their research.  

More about Research Data Scotland.

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