Scottish CSO proposes ‘safe havens’ for health data

A report from the Scottish Chief Scientist Office’s Health Informatics Research Advisory Group has recommended that a network of locations should be established where patient data can be safely accessed.

A report published by the group on 21 April says that such a network of accredited safe havens would support Scottish health innovation. 

Safe havens “are now widely accepted as the preferred method of providing access to de-identified data for research”, but Scotland’s existing data havens “are in varying stages of development and have so far have evolved with little central coordination or standardisation”, the report says.