Table 1 Example sources of routinely recorded secondary-care data

The Health and Social Care Information Centre (HSCIC) [21]

Data access for clinical research:

The Data Access Request Service provides a method of access to a number of routinely collected datasets for England. Hospital Episode Statistics (HES) provides clinical, health and socioeconomic data for all secondary-care attendances in England. Datasets include Accident and Emergency, Admitted Patient, Outpatient, Adult Critical Care, Maternity and selected Patient Reported Outcome Measures.

Previous experience in clinical research:

HES data have been accessed for retrospective linkage studies [22] and to provide data for prospective studies; for example, estimation of health care resource use or measuring outcomes such as long-term mortality [23]

The NHS Wales Informatics Service (NWIS) [24]

Data access for clinical research:

Data access can be facilitated through The Public Health Wales Observatory. The Patient Episode Database for Wales (PEDW) provides clinical, health and socioeconomic data for all secondary-care attendances in Wales and is broadly comparable to the Admitted Patient HES dataset, with data regarding elective and emergency admissions and maternity care recorded. Additional datasets of relevance to this study include the Emergency Department and Outpatient Datasets.

Previous experience in clinical research:

PEDW data have been accessed for retrospective analyses; for example, analysis of the incidence of obstetric complication rates [25]

The NHS National Services Scotland; Information Services Division (ISD) [26]

Data access for clinical research:

The electronic Data Research and Innovation Service (eDRIS) provides a method of access to ISD datasets including Outpatient, General Acute/Inpatient, Emergency Department, Unscheduled Care, GP Out of Hours and The Prescribing Information System. Clinical, health and socioeconomic data are recorded and datasets are largely comparable to HSCIC HES.

Previous experience in clinical research:

ISD data have been accessed for retrospective linkage studies; for example, analysis of the incidence of gastrointestinal bleeding and complications including mortality [27]