The OpenSafely Research Platform

Key facts

Disease
COVID-19
Start & end year
2020
2023
Known Financial Commitments (USD)
$3,002,509.66
Funder
Wellcome Trust
Principal Investigator
Dr. Ben Goldacre
Research Location
United Kingdom
Lead Research Institution
University of Oxford
Research Priority Alignment
N/A

Research Category
Health Systems Research
Research Subcategory
Health information systems
Special Interest Tags
Data Management and Data Sharing
Study Type
Non-Clinical
Clinical Trial Details
N/A
Broad Policy Alignment
Pending
Age Group
Not Applicable
Vulnerable Population
Not applicable
Occupations of Interest
Not applicable

Abstract

OpenSAFELY is a new secure analytics platform for electronic health records in the NHS, created to deliver urgent results during the global COVID-19 emergency. It is now successfully delivering analyses across more than 24 million patients' full pseudonymised primary care NHS records, with more to follow shortly. All our analytic software is open for security review, scientific review, and re-use. OpenSAFELY uses a new model for enhanced security and timely access to data: we don't transport large volumes of potentially disclosive pseudonymised patient data outside of the secure environments managed by the electronic health record software company; instead, trusted analysts can run large scale computation across live pseudonymised patient records inside the data centre of the electronic health records software company. This pragmatic and secure approach has allowed us to deliver our first analyses in just five weeks from project start.

Publicationslinked via Europe PMC

Last Updated:a day ago

View all publications at Europe PMC

Ethnic differences in Long COVID diagnosed in primary care in England (2020-2022): an observational cohort study using OpenSAFELY.

Time trends in newly recorded diagnoses of 19 long term conditions before, during, and after the covid-19 pandemic: population based cohort study in England using OpenSAFELY.

The impact of COVID-19 lockdowns on primary care contact among vulnerable populations in England: a controlled interrupted time-series study.

Opioid prescribing to people on orthopaedic waiting lists during the covid-19 pandemic in England: retrospective cohort study using linked electronic health record data in OpenSAFELY-TPP.

Patient characteristics associated with clinically coded long COVID: an OpenSAFELY study using electronic health records.

Authors
Wei Y, Horne EM, Knight R, Cezard G, Walker AJ, Fisher L, Denholm R, Taylor K, Walker V, Riley S, Williams DM, Willans R, Davy S, Bacon S, Goldacre B, Mehrkar A, Denaxas S, Greaves F, Silverwood RJ, Sheikh A, Chaturvedi N, Wood AM, Macleod J, Steves C, Sterne J, UK COVID-19 Longitudinal Health and Wellbeing National Core Study and CONVALESCENCE study.
Publish Year
2025
Journal
BJGP open
DOI
10.3399/bjgpo.2024.0140

View at Europe PMC

Outpatient hospital attendances in people with rheumatoid arthritis during the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond: a cohort study in three nations of the UK.

Disparities in the use of remote general practice consultations: learning from the COVID-19 pandemic, an analysis of 19 million electronic health records using OpenSAFELY.

The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the rate of maternal postnatal healthcare examinations in England: an OpenSAFELY interrupted time series analysis providing evidence of disparity in care access.