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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: 

ICHT tenancy

The ICHT tenancy contains routinely collected data from ³Ô¹ÏºÚÁÏ College Healthcare NHS Trust’s five hospitals, spanning clinical and non-clinical systems. Data is ingested at close to real time, and can then be anonymised by the iCARE team and make available for approved research, evaluation and clinical analytics.

The tenancy captures more than 1.5 million patient encounters each year, including large volumes of electronic patient record data from Cerner and data from specialist clinical and non-clinical systems. It also includes safety, patient experience, staffing and environmental data.

The tenancy operates under ICHT’s established governance arrangements, with appropriate approvals for the clinical and non-clinical data it hosts.

Click here to learn more about governance. 

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.

The majority of projects done by the iCARE team is within the ICHT tenancy. 

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. 

Linkage can be performed between the two datasets all whilst keeping the data completely de-identified. 

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.