Methods for using and linking routine healthcare data: maximising opportunities for analytical insights

Chair:

Ellen Coughlan, Programme Manager, The Health Foundation 

Presenters: 

Laura Edwards Suarez, Clinical Analyst (Clinical Development Unit), Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust

Pia Hardelid, Associate Professor, UCL/GOS Institute of Child Health 

Hannah Knight, Principal Data Analyst, The Health Foundation 

David Cromwell, Professor of Health Services Research, LSHTM and Director, Clinical Effectiveness Unit, Royal College of Surgeons of England 

Session summary:
The increasing availability of routine health data present opportunities for researchers to understand demand for healthcare, support service improvement, and evaluate patterns of care and patient outcomes. However, as secondary users of the data, analysts typically have limited contextual insight about how data are generated. This raises challenges around selecting the best analytical approach and appropriately interpreting results.

This session will showcase a range of approaches that have been used to address some of the difficulties encountered when working with routine healthcare data, ranging from building strong clinical – analyst relationships to applying appropriate risk adjustments to understand long-term outcomes. The focus of the webinar is on generalisable methods that can be applied by others.

Our four speakers will discuss their experiences of using and linking data to produce analytical insights in different clinical areas: mental health, maternity care, surgery and child health. The session is intended to guide those who wish to interpret research based on routine healthcare data and those who wish to undertake such analyses themselves.