Research

The South West Secure Data Environment (SDE) will enable new and groundbreaking research.

From improving clinical trials to enabling population studies, the South West SDE will open new possibilities for the use of health and care data for research in our region.

What kind of research will the SDE enable?

Potential uses of SDEs include:

AI and algorithm development: testing, training and validation
Clinical trials: feasibility, recruitment and follow-up
Real world studies: safety, effectiveness and cost-effectiveness
Translational research: academic discovery and implementation of discovery into practice
Epidemiological studies: large cohorts for population health research
Health systems research: evaluation of systems or processes, including operation and applied research

Pilot projects

We are supporting two pilot projects to use South West SDE data:

Improving patient flow between acute, community and social care (IPACS)
Developing modelling tools to help discharge people from hospital into home-based care.
Improving patient outcomes with discharge decision support (IPODDS)
Developing a clinical decision support tool to support clinicians in making safe discharge decisions for their patients.

Find out more about these projects on our data use register page.

How do I propose a project?

If you want to analyse data in the South West SDE, please get in touch.

You can also request access via the Health Data Research UK (HDR UK) Gateway.

The NHS Research Secure Data Environment Network

The South West SDE is part of the NHS Research Secure Data Environment Network. The network helps approved researchers by simplifying and accelerating secure access to the health and social care data they need.