Secure Data Access

All data released to researchers is anonymised. We use remote access technology for you to carry out your analysis. Requested data is prepared as per your specifications and then made available in your remote desktop.

Data is never released from Register servers. Data that you would like to generate figures, images or tables from is examined for anything potentially identifiable before being released to you after a review period.

A high level of security is in place which requires two-factor authentication via a username & password and yubikey/Google Authenticator to access the virtual machines.

---

Wide Range of Analytical Tools

We provide all the tools necessary to analyse the data in a standard windows desktop including R, SAS, STATA, SPSS and others. We can even install any bespoke software you may require to be available on your remote desktop.

---

Data Linkage

We provide a data linkage service so researchers can bring their own, or other data they have permission to use into the analysis environment.

Data linkage is the merging of two or more separate data sets (e.g. General Practice information and outpatient data about the same person) for research purposes.

The Register does this by deleting anything identifiable and replacing it with a unique code. This code lets us link these records together so we can perform wider analysis. The anonymisation is carried out by a trusted NHS third party so we are unable to re-identify any individuals after this process has been carried out.

---

Data Quality & Management

Any new data that's brought in can go through our Data Quality Analysis tool first to ensure that you produce precision data to reduce errors and mistakes that would otherwise affect your research results.

Any data you bring in can also be managed through our Metadata Cataloguing system, allowing you to accurately record the contents of your data and giving you easy control over its access between your team.