As well as service-management requests from the NHS, DataLoch also considers applications from researchers who wish to securely access health and social care data from the South-East Scotland region. Researchers can be from private- and third-sector organisations, as well as from academic or clinical settings. Applicants and applications need to meet a number of key governance criteria to ensure their purposes are legitimate and in the public interest.
DataLoch brings together routine data collected as part of people’s day-to-day interactions with health and social care services. NHS Lothian is the lead Data Controller of all data hosted by DataLoch. Protecting the individual identities of all those in the data is the DataLoch team’s most important priority.
Our close-knit team of clinical experts, data analysts, service managers, and governance specialists enable improvements in health and social care that will make a real difference to the everyday lives of residents in South-East Scotland. The team is led by Professor Nick Mills, an experienced clinician and health data researcher.