Latest news

#OpenDataSavesLives: Session 40 - Analytics as a Profession

Guest blog: Data Saves Lives

Wayne reached out to us to share his work at the Aberdeenshire Alcohol & Drugs Partnership - where they've performed analysis on service delivery data. Wayne shares thoughts on the wider context of the Government's 'Data Saves Lives' strategy.

#OpenDataSavesLives: Session 39 - Virtual Wards

Our last session was on the topic of virtual wards, remote monitoring and the challenges of managing patient flow. It was another lively session!

#OpenDataSavesLives: Session 38 - RAP for Health Inequalities

This session was on the theme of Reproducible Analytical Pipelines to combat Health Inequalities.

#OpenDataSavesLives: Session 37 - Health Inequalities

Building on the success of our last session on inequalities, we welcomed guest chair Sophia Christie, and heard from Sarah Scobie and Dr Marc Farr on the challenges of assessing ethnic differences in access to health services.

#OpenDataSavesLives: AI in Health & 2022 Wrap up!

Our last session of the year was really well attended - thank you to all who joined us! We heard about some nice applications of AI through prescription, diagnosis and crucial infrastructure. We also naturally took the time to reflect on the whirlwind that was 2022.

#OpenDataSavesLives Session 35: Health Inequalities

Narrowing the gap of inequality in healthcare is a hot topic at the moment and a considerable challenge to address. We welcomed our highest number of attendees yet for this session where we began to tackle some of these challenges.

#OpenDataSavesLives: Reproducible Analytical Pipelines - Event Highlights and What Next

Thank you to all those who joined us virtually and in the room for our first event dedicated to sharing knowledge and developing practical solutions for all things RAP: Reproducible Analytical Pipelines. Find out more about how we'll be taking this momentum forward into 2023.

Update on The Open Data Task & Finish Group

The Open Data Task & Finish Group is a cross-governmental collaboration to improve the use of open data across the health ecosystem. In light of the Goldacre Review, its focus is evolving and we will be working closely with them to support them with implementing these recommendations.

#OpenDataSavesLives - Session 34: Open Source in Health Analytics

Building on the great discussion from our last session, we will this time be focusing on Open Source in Health Analytics. Joining us to speak we have: Ellen Coughlan, Programme Manager at the Health Foundation; Chris Beeley, Senior Data Scientist at Nottinghamshire NHS Foundation Trust, and Dr Osman Bhatti to give a GP's perspective on data sharing.

#OpenDataSavesLives - Unconference 2 - Reproducible Analytical Pipelines

In light of the recent Goldacre Review, we will be working with NHS Digital and others to deliver a whole-day event on the theme of Reproducible Analytical Pipelines. We will be showcasing use cases and best practice, offering consultation and workshops in the afternoon.

#OpenDataSavesLives - Session 33: Open Data in Health

We are becoming increasingly aware that wider determinants of health have an impact on heath inequalities. David Williams joins us to talk about his work with Pupil Perceptions, a survey tool that explores these factors. Peter Lacey of the Whole Systems Partnership will also be sharing some of his work in system dynamics modelling and how this has helped the NHS to understand the impact of COVID-19.

Pupil Perceptions: Improving access and engagement in education through data-informed well-being and mental health interventions

The Pupil Perceptions survey is a diagnostic tool designed to help schools understand more about their pupils' 'Readiness for Learning', providing insight into mental health, wellbeing and safeguarding issues that impact students on an individual basis.

#OpenDataSavesLives - Session 32 - Cancer Data

We were joined this time by three fantastic speakers - Professor Sir Mike Richards, former National Cancer Director and Chair of the National Screening Committee; Dr David Tighe, Consultant Maxillofacial Surgeon and Deputy Clinical Lead, QOMS; Martelie Isaacs, Principal Data & Business Analyst at the Surrey and Sussex Cancer Alliance.

SIA - Strategic Intelligence Alliance

The SIA partners with the NHS, providing models and analytics services to transform data into actionable intelligence that can be shared with clinicians to make real life changes to patient care.

Addressing variation in Mental Health Outcomes - From Inequalities data to ‘Caseness’

Out of our two-day innovation workshop around health inequalities came our Mental Health Explorer tool and a better understanding of some of the challenges around mental health data.

#OpenDataSavesLives Innovation Session: Reflections on OpenSAFELY

Over our two-day innovation session, we explored the feasibility of employing the OpenSAFELY platform to ask important questions around healthcare inequalities.

Innovation with data - use the web as it was intended

First in a series of posts about the innovation process behind ODSL and why it has impact

#OpenDataSavesLives - Coronavirus Dashboards

On 9th February, we were joined by Clare Griffiths and Pouria Hadjibagheri from the UK Health Security Agency to share how they designed, developed and continue to deliver the national Covid-19 Dashboard.

The Open Data Task and Finish Group

A cross-governmental working group initiated in September 2021, addressing the common issues and challenges when working with open data in health.

Innovation Amplifier Working Session

The first working session in our Innovation Amplifier series aimed at Levelling Up Health Inequalities.

RUM - Really Useful Models

We need to make it easier to share, adapt, and adopt simple models.

#OpenDataSavesLives: The Unconference - Ways paved and lives saved

We ran the first #OpenDataSavesLives 'unconference' on 29 September, building on the success of the event series which began in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

#OpenDataSavesLives event series secures support from the Health Foundation

OpenDataSavesLives and NHS Digital join forces to look at UK mental health data availability and use

NHS South, Central and West Commissioning Support Unit becomes our second official and confirmed Foundation sponsor

We are delighted to announce today, Wednesday 1 September 2021, that NHS South, Central and West Commissioning Support Unit becomes our second official and confirmed Foundation sponsor.

NHS Digital's Mental Health data

Mental Health is a high priority for the UK government, with more and more focus on parity of esteem; that is, equally valuing mental and physical health care. Over the last decade NHS Digital has been working hard to develop, maintain and enhance information systems that can be used to inform policy and the public debate about the effectiveness of mental health interventions across England.

OpenDataSavesLives: The Unconference

This is an opportunity for people who believe in the power of open data to drive health improvements to come together.

BLOG: do we really need to wait for the government's data proposals when we can do so much already - if we are brave?

Blog by Dr Marc Farr, Founder, OpenDataSavesLives: do we really need to wait for the government's data proposals when we can do so much already - if we are brave?

BLOG: GPDPR (GP Data Sharing) session 28

On Thursday 8 July 2021 and as part of our OpenDataSavesLives 2021 event series, we featured a town hall style debate around the hot topic of GPDPR (sharing of general practice data for planning and research). During the event, we asked the OpenDataSavesLives community to submit their response comments and questions on NHS Digital's GPDPR strategy.

BLOG: #OpenDataSavesLives and NHS Digital join forces to look at UK mental health data availability and use

We are thrilled to announce that we at Open Data Saves Lives are working alongside NHS Digital on a new project to map the availability of mental health data across the UK and better understand how it is currently used.

GUEST BLOG: new ways of working to transform local services

Dr Marc Farr, Chief Analytical Officer, East Kent Hospitals NHSFT shares his view on the pandemic and if it has demonstrated anything, it’s that there’s huge benefit, if done properly and securely, in linking data for the common good.

TPP becomes our first official and confirmed Foundation sponsor

We are delighted to announce today, Thursday 1 July 2021, that TPP becomes our first official and confirmed Foundation sponsor.

OpenDataSavesLives community survey

#OpenDataSavesLives community survey. Your feedback is important to us in shaping our #OpenDataSavesLives event programme.

BLOG: OpenDataSavesLives session on 6 May 2021

Chaired by Dr Marc Farr, Founder, Beautiful Information Ltd and focusing on digital care homes, our 27th Open Data Saves Lives session on Thursday 6 May 2021 saw a record attendance with 49 participants.

BLOG: OpenDataSavesLives session on 22 April 2021

The second OpenDataSavesLives session of 2021 to be led by the Health Foundation looked at open data and digital innovation in home care and supported living and was chaired by Ellen Coughlan, Programme Manager and Fiona Grimm, Principal Data Analyst.

Reviewing the OpenDataSavesLives Goldacre Review Special

As part of our #OpenDataSavesLives event series, we hosted a special live un-conference on 18 March 2021 to ask the #OpenDataSavesLives community to submit their response and comments to the Goldacre Review.

Session on 11 February 2021

More than 50 people joined our third #OpenDataSavesLives session of 2021 and the first to be led by the Health Foundation. The session looked at open data and digital innovation in primary care.

OpenDataSavesLives session on 28 January 2021

Our second #OpenDataSavesLives session of the year focused on the role of the analyst during COVID-19 and with 61 participants, our #OpenDataSavesLives community continues to grow from strength to strength.

BLOG: Open Data Saves Lives - Thinking out loud

In this blog, Paul Connell, Founder of ODI Leeds, will be taking his own advice 'to share and think out loud' about our #OpenDataSavesLives work, where ODI Leeds partnered with Beautiful Information during 2020.

Using Pillar 2 Testing data to improve Covid patient flow within hospitals

Using regional COVID-19 data to improve patient pathways

BLOG: #OpenDataSavesLives session on 3 December 2020

Our final and twentieth #OpenDataSavesLives session of 2020 on 3 December focused on COVID and ethnicity.

Introducing OpenDataSavesLives

Introducing #OpenDataSavesLives and launching our new website.

BLOG: #OpenDataSavesLives session on 5 November 2020

Our eighteenth #OpenDataSavesLives session of 2020 focused on data sharing, better linked data and why data encapsulating sensitive issues like domestic abuse.

#OpenDataSavesLives - moving forward

As the pandemic progresses and new challenges arise, we wanted to think about how we keep #OpenDataSavesLives moving forward.

Linking data for research in Kent

In Kent we have developed a strategy for linking patient level data at a level below what has previously been done.

Data sharing in Kent

Joint working across Kent and Medway to help share a common patient level dataset to assist with modelling and planning work.

OpenDataSavesLives COVID-19 Response

On Thursday 26 March 2020, the Open Data Institute Leeds, Beautiful Information and NHS Digital joined forces to host the inaugural ODSL hackathon in response to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Being Radically Open during the COVID-19 outbreak

Our kick-off blog post about our aim to host a virtual hackathon around the coronavirus data available.