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Understanding the data tenancies

The ³Ô¹ÏºÚÁÏ Secure Data Environment (SDE) is an actively maintained research environment for securely accessing and analysing health and care data. The iCARE team continually curates, links and quality-checks data, develops research-ready datasets and improves the platform to support evolving research and analytical needs.

The SDE contains separate tenancies, allowing different data resources to be managed with their own governance, access controls and data management arrangements.

Importantly, the iCARE team has the ability to securely link data across these separate data resources. This enables approved researchers to bring together information from different parts of the health and care system while maintaining the appropriate governance and access controls.

It is useful to distinguish between a tenancy, a dataset and the SDE itself:

• SDE (Secure Data Environment) – the secure technical environment in which data are stored, managed and analysed.
• Tenancy – a logically separated area within the SDE in which a particular organisation's or programme's data are managed and accessed.
• Dataset – the actual health and care data held within a tenancy.
  

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  The tenancies within the ³Ô¹ÏºÚÁÏ SDE: 

iCARE ICHT tenancy

The iCARE ICHT tenancy contains routinely collected data from ³Ô¹ÏºÚÁÏ College Healthcare NHS Trust's five hospitals. It includes electronic patient records and data from specialist clinical and non-clinical systems, capturing more than 1.5 million patient encounters each year. The tenancy provides a controlled environment in which approved users can work with de-identified ICHT data.

The five hospitals where data is drawn from are: 

• St Mary's Hospital - A major acute hospital in Paddington providing emergency, specialist and maternity services.
• Hammersmith Hospital -  Internationally recognised for specialist care, including cardiac medicine, renal services and medical research.
• Charing Cross Hospital - Provides a broad range of acute, specialist and community healthcare services.
• Queen Charlotte's & Chelsea Hospital -  A leading centre for maternity, neonatal and women's healthcare.
• Western Eye Hospital - A specialist ophthalmic hospital delivering emergency and planned eye care.

WSIC tenancy / database

is a separate data resource covering approximately 2.9 million people across North West London. It brings together data from primary care, community services, mental health, social care and acute care.

WSIC is hosted within the wider iCARE secure infrastructure but remains a distinct data resource with its own governance and access arrangements. 

It can be linked with ICHT data for approved projects.

A critical milestone: linking health and care data

Many healthcare questions cannot be answered by looking at information from a single service. Understanding patient journeys often requires insight across different parts of the health and care system.

Through the ³Ô¹ÏºÚÁÏ SDE, approved researchers can access linked datasets that bring together information from ³Ô¹ÏºÚÁÏ College Healthcare NHS Trust (ICHT) and Whole Systems Integrated Care (WSIC), creating a more complete view of health and care pathways across North West London.

By linking data across services, researchers can better understand how people access care, how treatments and interventions affect outcomes, and where improvements can be made.