Transparency Notice – NHS England Secure Data Environment Service

The NHS England Secure Data Environment Service is a service provided by NHS England to allow approved researchers and other entities from trusted organisations to have timely, secure and safe access to health and social care data to help them with their healthcare research projects.

Researchers who wish to access the NHS England Secure Data Environment Service must first submit an application for using health data. Our Data Access Request Service (DARS) then manages this application to its conclusion by vetting applicants and their research purpose, as well as checking for legal compliance and requirements.

After these checks, a Data Sharing Agreement is signed by NHS England and the applicant and a safe space to access and work with the requested data is granted to the applicant, who is now a customer of the service.

The NHS England Secure Data Environment Service does not collect data from you personally.

Before any data is made available through the NHS England Secure Data Environment Service, it is prepared by NHS England to ensure that it does not contain information that can be traced back to a single individual or organisation.

Researchers using the NHS England Secure Data Environment Service will only be granted access to the data they are permitted to see, which is specified in the customers’ Data Sharing Agreements (the legal documentation which specifies what data the user can access, and their rights to do so).

A full list of datasets, including how and where they are collected, can be viewed on the NHS England website through the Data Access Request Service (DARS), 

Because the NHS England Secure Data Environment Service enables access to existing datasets, the legal basis for using this data lies within each individual dataset’s own legal basis.

Because all personal information is collected and processed outside of the NHS England Secure Data Environment Service, there are no specific legal requirements relating to personal data on the service itself.

The full legal basis for each dataset that is employed within the NHS England Secure Data Environment Service can be found within that dataset’s own transparency notice, which covers:

• the legal basis for collecting and processing personal data
• the types of personal data being processed
• how long personal data is kept
• where this personal data is stored
• your rights over your personal data
• your rights to lodge a complaint with the Information Commission

NHS England is the controller of personal data where it is processed for the NHS England Secure Data Environment Service.

Information is only shared with individuals and organisations specifically named within a Data Sharing Agreement.  

Data provided by the NHS England Secure Data Environment Service is stored securely in the cloud on a service hosted in the United Kingdom.

Fully-anonymous data available through the NHS England Secure Data Environment Service, which does not allow an individual or organisation to be identified, may be stored and processed outside of the UK.

To read more about the health and care information NHS England collects, our legal basis for collecting this information and what choices and rights you have, see how we look after your health and care information, and the NHS England transparency notice.

We may make changes to this transparency notice. If we do, the ‘last updated’ date at the top of the notice will also change. Any changes to this notice will apply immediately from the date of any change.