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:an hour ago

View all publications at Europe PMC

Time trends in new diagnoses of 19 long-term conditions: a population-level cohort study in England using OpenSAFELY

Opioid prescribing to people on orthopaedic waiting lists during the COVID-19 pandemic in England: a study using OpenSAFELY-TPP

Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on antidepressant prescribing with a focus on people with learning disability and autism: an interrupted time series analysis in England using OpenSAFELY-TPP.

Authors
Cunningham C, Macdonald O, Schaffer A, Brown A, Wiedemann M, Higgins R, Bates C, Parry J, Fisher L, Curtis H, Mehrkar A, Hart LC, Hulme W, Speed V, Ward T, Croker R, Wood C, Walker A, Andrews C, Butler-Cole B, Evans D, Inglesby P, Dillingham I, Davy S, Bridges L, O'Dwyer T, Maude S, Smith R, Green A, Goldacre B, MacKenna B, Bacon S.
Publish Year
2025
Journal
BMJ mental health
DOI
10.1136/bmjment-2024-301378

View at Europe PMC

Healthcare use in individuals with rheumatoid arthritis during the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond: A cohort study in three nations of the UK

Uptake of service specific codes for the COVID oximetry @Home Pulse Oximetry service: an analysis of 57 million patients’ primary care records using OpenSAFELY

Antibiotics for common infections in primary care before, during and after the COVID-19 pandemic: cohort study of extent of prescribing based on risks of infection-related hospital admissions.

Using Laboratory Test Results for Surveillance During a New Outbreak of Acute Hepatitis in 3-Week- to 5-Year-Old Children in the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Ireland, and Curaçao: Observational Cohort Study.