ResearchOne gets ethical approval

TPP’s new patient database has received ethical approval from the NHS Research Ethics Committee and the National Information Governance Board.

ResearchOne was launched earlier this year and could hold over 20m patient records.

Practices will be given the option to opt their records into ResearchOne through the preference screen on TPP’s patient record system SystmOne.

A TPP spokesperson told eHealth Insider that opting out would not be a problem.

“Should a patient choose to opt out they would be advised to contact their care provider who can indicate this preference on the patient’s SystmOne record.

“This will trigger an automatic update of the database to remove all data relating to the patient, regardless of the unit of origin, within seven days.”

The aim of the anonymised research database is to provide regulated access, for researchers who are approved by the NHS Research Ethics Committee, to health and social care research data on a not-for-profit basis.

According to the ResearchOne team, the database developed by TPP in partnership with the University of Leeds and the Technology Strategy Board, has the potential to hold data from primary, secondary, and social care settings, building up “comprehensive research records for innovative new work.”

The project aims to improve patient outcomes and develop risk stratification and decision support models, as well as helping with commissioning and organisational performance.

Samantha Crossfield, a research analyst from TPP and University of Leeds said: “The next step is to supply SystmOne users with the information they need to make an informed choice about opting-in to this exciting research programme.”

ResearchOne will be centrally-hosted in a secure data centre and more information on how organisations can get involved and how to inform patients will be given over the next few weeks.