Using big data to improve heart health

MRC e-health centres for health informatics research in the UK (linkage and analysis of e-health data across the UK)

The British Heart Foundation has joined a consortium of UK government and charity funders, led by the Medical Research Council (MRC), to contribute to a £19 million investment to establish four electronic-health research Centres of Excellence (e-health centres) in London, Manchester, Dundee and Swansea. With a further contribution of £20m from the MRC, the Farr Institute of Health Informatics Research has also been established. The four e-health centres will support the safe use of patient data for medical research across all diseases, including cardiovascular disease, obesity, diabetes and cancer. The centres will be made up of medical, population and computer scientists who are experts at analysing UK health data and finding ways to use that information to improve patient care and public health. They will link information in NHS health records with other forms of research and routinely-collected data, and will interpret these large health datasets in research environments that safeguard patient confidentiality. By combining clinical, social and research data, researchers aim to improve our understanding of the causes of ill health, improve drug safety, assess risks to public health and ultimately identify more effective treatments for disease.