The West Midlands Secure Data Environment (WMSDE) is a data storage and access platform that improves patient care by delivering innovation sooner. It is part of the national Data for Research and Development programme and is one of several regional platforms in the NHS Secure Data Environment network.

How does the WMSDE work?

The WMSDE works with universities and other experts in the West Midlands to provide secure data for clinical trials and studies.

Approved users can access appropriate information for analysis, with the NHS tightly controlling what they see. So the WMSDE maintains the highest standards of NHS data security while making research more efficient.

Previously, this process has been time-consuming and costly, making patients wait longer for new treatments. The importance of research being delivered quickly was highlighted during COVID-19, and the Data Saves Lives Strategy outlines how secure data environments will support this consistently.

How it will benefit the West Midlands

The West Midlands has one of the most diverse populations in the country. There is significant disparity in health and care access and health inequalities across the region, with poor health outcomes.

Due to our population’s diversity, hospitals and other health and social care providers in the region have a substantial wealth of health and social care data spanning a number of decades. This can provide much-needed insight into an extensive range of diseases and health conditions across different ethnicities and ages, including children and young people.

Thanks to the rich history of research carried out through our network of universities, hospitals, and other health and care-related bodies, organisations in the West Midlands have resources available to catalyse activities that will drive quality improvement, innovation and discovery.

The West Midlands Secure Data Environment will bring together this existing collective knowledge and provide the conditions for further growth.

It will support the development of a ‘learning health system’ for the region, in which information collected through everyday processes – such as blood tests, scans and biopsies – is analysed, learned from and used to improve people’s care.

It will benefit people locally and right across our region by helping us understand and improve healthcare in those parts of the West Midlands with the greatest need. What’s more, it will improve the quality of healthcare for everyone in our region, making it more efficient and more equitable for all.

The bigger picture

Find out how your information makes a difference by watching this animation from Understanding Patient Data.