Response to Tony Blair Institute data trust report

Following the publication of a Tony Blair Institute for Global Change (TBI) report titled ‘A New National Purpose: Harnessing Data for Health with a Data Trust’, Professor Sir Rory Collins, Principal Investigator and Chief Executive of UK Biobank, said: 

"The report’s broad aim of unlocking NHS data to support health research is to be admired, but there is a simpler solution. Scotland and Wales have already centralised much of their health data within the NHS. In England, we need to do the same (including, in particular, primary care data) so that the whole of the UK is covered. As we saw during the pandemic, NHS England already has the necessary secure systems, processes and skills to enable important health research. What they don't have is secure long-term funding to make it a priority, or retain the teams who can support the process. Long-term funding for research matters, as consented cohort studies like UK Biobank show. Providing NHS England with sufficient long-term funding would not only enable research into ways to improve public health and patient care, but it would also help the NHS to deliver healthcare better."

Read the report here.