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The importance of data in fighting disease during the pandemic
Clinical data is acutely private and confidential, and patients rightly demand that it is handled with great care. Sarah Wilkinson, Chief Executive of NHS Digital, explains more.
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25 September 2020

Due to the complexity of diseases and variation in outcomes, each patient’s data is extraordinarily valuable in gaining insights into the treatment of others. Medical research, as well as the work of optimising the planning and delivery of clinical services, depends on analysing rich, detailed data sets to identify variations and patterns in illness and treatment outcomes.
Confidential data, once shared, can't easily be retracted.
The risks of inadvertently allowing misuse of clinical data are quite different to other technical risks we manage in crisis situations. Going live with a poorly designed or implemented digital service might result in frustrated users, occasional service failures or fraught operations activities. All these situations are ultimately recoverable. Confidential data, once shared, usually can’t be easily retracted. Insights deduced from that data about individuals or communities can’t be ‘unlearned’.
Data that has the power to save lives must be put to greater use, with absolute diligence in the management of its use.
Supporting the planning and delivery of efficient health and care services through rich, high-quality, timely data insights is equally critical, particularly when the system is under great pressure.
As we look back on the last six months, there is much to learn. We need clearer legislation and more efficient processes to enable appropriate data usage within the health and care system and for medical research.
Data that has the power to save lives must be put to greater use, with absolute diligence in the management of its use. Efficient and rigorous information governance, combined with transparency, earns us the trust of our citizens so that we can serve them better.