On 3rd March 2021, the Care and Health Informatics (CHI) theme from ARC NWC held a virtual event to showcase progress about data linkage made in the NWC. With many services running in the NHS, the social care system, local councils and third sector organisations, there is a lot of data being collected and derived. Often this data sits in silos, unable to be analysed in conjunction with other data. Where we can link data together we may generate a more holistic understanding of what impacts people’s health and well-being.

In the North West Coast we have made progress linking data together – initially to aid with the pandemic response. As a result, the region now has the “Combined Informatics for Public Health Action – CIPHA”. You can find out more about CIPHA here.

The event shared the progress made in the region and asked attendees to consider how such linkages can be sustained for longer term improvements to help drive policy and practice improvements. Targeted at digital health data enthusiasts, attendees came from a number of organisations across the country. The presentation are listed below and are available to view here.

Combined Intelligence for Population Health – Helen Duckworth (Associate Director of Business Intelligence; Cheshire and Merseyside Integrated Care System)

Using linked data to evaluate policy and practice in Cheshire and Merseyside – Ben Barr (Improving Population Health Theme Lead NIHR ARC North West Coast and Professor of Public Health; University of Liverpool)

Cheshire & Merseyside System P programme – Wes Baker (Director of Strategic Analytics, Economics and Population Health Management; Mersey Care NHS Foundation Trust)

Corralling data from NHS trusts for health research – Jo Knight (Professor in Applied Data Science; Lancaster University)

System wide evidence generated using multi sectoral data linkage – Sarah Rodgers (Care and Health Informatics Theme Lead NIHR ARC North West Coast and Professor of Health Informatics; University of Liverpool)

Using routinely collected health data to assess the effect of a seizure care pathway – Pete Dixon (NIHR ARC North West Coast Researcher; University of Liverpool)

Using routine data to generate an index of anticholinergic medication burden on older people (ACMI) – Olly Butters, (NIHR ARC North West Coast Researcher; University of Liverpool)