In the Spotlight: Lancashire and South Cumbria Secure Data Environment (SDE)
The Lancashire and South Cumbria Secure Data Environment (SDE) is a digital platform designed to securely store health and care data. By providing insights into population health, the SDE not only helps identify risks early but also supports the development of effective treatments, ensuring timely interventions that improve patient outcomes and overall public health.
Background
The Lancashire and South Cumbria Integrated Care System (ICS) includes a number of Trusts, including Lancashire and South Cumbria, University Hospitals of Morecombe Bay, Lancashire Teaching Hospitals, East Lancashire Hospitals, and Blackpool Teaching Hospitals.
The Trusts within the integrated system operate multiple hospitals, managing vast amounts of patient data, from various clinical interactions such as diagnoses, treatments, and tests.
Challenge
However, this data was siloed across different systems, making it difficult to gain a comprehensive view of patient journeys or to extract meaningful insights – which is essential in informing better healthcare delivery and research.
NHS Trusts across the UK faced further pressures from the findings of the Goldacre Review, commissioned by the UK Government in 2021, which highlighted deficiencies in data integration, security, and accessibility across the NHS. The review’s recommendations placed additional pressure on the NHS to enhance its data infrastructure to meet national standards.
Solution
Recognising the urgent need for a robust and unified data platform, Lancashire and South Cumbria ICS set out to consolidate its data systems across the region. The solution centred around the implementation of a Secure Data Environment (SDE) programme, designed to integrate different data sets into a single, coherent system that could support both clinical operations and research.
At the heart of this transformation was the adoption of the OMOP (Observational Medical Outcomes Partnership) data model, a globally recognised framework that standardises healthcare data to enable comprehensive analysis and research. This model has already been successfully implemented by Lancashire Teaching Hospitals, and plans were in place to extend it to University Hospitals of Morecambe Bay and other providers in the region over the next two to three years.
To support the project, Lancashire and South Cumbria’s SDE team worked in partnership with Telefónica Tech, leveraging technologies including Microsoft Azure, Azure Data Factory, and Databricks, to build a secure, scalable data platform that could accommodate the complex needs of the healthcare sector.
The project was structured into multiple phases to ensure smooth and rapid delivery. This phased approach allowed Lancashire and South Cumbria to handle the vast amounts of data from different sources, including electronic patient records, imaging data, and clinical procedure codes. Telefónica Tech played a crucial role in this process, and within three months from initial engagement, a data platform was set-up that was already ingesting OMOP data.
The SDE programme also adopted a single Lakehouse architecture for the entire region, connecting various healthcare providers through a unified semantic data layer. This approach not only streamlined data management but also accelerated the development of intelligence that could be translated into tangible benefits for the public. The inclusion of AI-powered tools within Azure Databricks further enhanced the platform’s capability to rapidly deliver value, addressing the significant intelligence needs of the system.
For Lancashire and South Cumbria’s SDE team, data privacy and security are critical. The team implemented the Five Safes Framework to ensure that patient data was protected at all times. This framework provided multiple layers of security, covering everything from how data is used to the technologies that protect it. The partnership with Telefónica Tech also extends beyond the technical aspects of the project, involving close collaboration with public engagement leads to ensure that ethical considerations and public trust remained central to the initiative.
Results
The implementation of the Secure Data Environment has generated significant benefits for Lancashire and South Cumbria ICS, the wider healthcare community in the region, and the general public. One of the most notable achievements is the rapid establishment of a regional data platform, which has accelerated strategic decision-making and planning. This platform has already harmonised 2.3 million electronic patient records, covering the entire care journey of many patients over the past 15 years. This vast dataset has become an invaluable resource for researchers, enabling them to conduct high-quality studies that have the potential to improve healthcare outcomes not just locally, but nationally and internationally.
The Trust’s work has been recognised with the Health Data Research UK (HDR UK) Team of the Year Award, highlighting the significant impact that the project has had on health data science. This accolade underscores the value of the project in advancing health research and improving patient care, aligning with HDR UK’s broader goal of leveraging routinely collected data to drive better health outcomes.
The collaboration with Telefónica Tech has provided Lancashire and South Cumbria with a repeatable model and a set of best practices that can be rolled out across other regions of the NHS.
In addition to these achievements, the project has opened up new improvement opportunities. The trust is now supporting Morecambe Bay Hospitals in their OMOP conversion journey, with plans to extend this work across Lancashire, South Cumbria, and the broader North-West region. The ongoing partnership with Telefónica Tech continues to evolve, with a focus on further enhancing the platform and upskilling the SDE team to ensure long-term success.
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