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News : Department for Health and Social Care using the Integrated Data Service for research

An image of a doctor showing a patient an ultrasound screen

Researchers from the Department for Health and Social Care (DHSC) are using the Integrated Data Service (IDS) platform to deliver insightful analysis, details of which we are excited to share. This is expected to provide access to better estimates of disease prevalence and wider health outcomes across the UK.

Since July 2023, colleagues in the DHSC have been conducting research to respond to growing demand for insights on wider causes of health outcomes. This is expected to help inform policy in the areas of health and the economy, two of the government’s priorities, by providing access to better estimates of disease prevalence.

This will also help to allow the IDS to mature its service, by testing the capabilities of its platform and internal processes. This will result in a series of lessons learnt, which will support and enhance the day-to-day functions of the programme and improve the user experience. Showing just how that the IDS is on its way to achieving its ambitious goal of bringing together ready-to-use data to enable faster and wider collaborative analysis for the public good (opens in a new tab) 

After achieving accreditation for the provision of data under the Digital Economy Act 2017 (DEA) in September 2023, the IDS aims to build upon this by continuing to host more data, mature the service, and improve user experience.

These estimates will help decision makers as part of the delivery of more targeted resources for undiagnosed and untreated diseases, as these analyses will help to form complex policy for the public good.

Learn more about the areas of research on the DHSC website (opens in a new tab)