Wessex SDE
CIRU’s role in Advancing a Secure Data Environment for Wessex
We’re excited to share that CIRU is playing a key role in shaping the Wessex Secure Data Environment (SDE) – a groundbreaking initiative designed to accelerate life-changing medical research while keeping NHS patient data safe and secure.
The Wessex SDE is a secure, NHS-owned platform that stores and links patient data for research, ensuring it is used responsibly and for public benefit. Built to the highest standards of security and privacy, the project is part of the national NHS Research SDE Network, funded by NHS England and the Department of Health & Social Care.
CIRU has been working closely with partners to develop the infrastructure and operating procedures that ensure NHS data is handled safely, ethically, and transparently.
Unlike old research methods – where datasets are transferred between organisations – the Wessex SDE introduces a secure, NHS-controlled system where approved researchers can only access de-identified data within a protected environment. This ensures that the NHS retains full control over how data is used, safeguarding patient privacy while accelerating vital health research.
Our team has collaborated with colleagues from University Hospital Southampton R&D to develop clear safeguards and rules – known as Standard Operating Procedures – that govern how data is accessed and protected. These safeguards function like airport security checks: every request to use data is carefully screened, monitored, and logged, ensuring that only approved researchers can access it for health research that benefits patients.
By establishing robust checks and approval processes, a highly secure environment, and transparent governance, the Wessex SDE is setting a new gold standard for NHS data security. As one of just seven ‘builder’ sites across the country, CIRU is proud to be shaping the future of safe, ethical, and high-impact health research.
Ashley Heinson, Data Science Lead from the AXIS team here at CIRU commented:
“The Wessex SDE is a major step forward in ensuring NHS data is used safely and securely for research that benefits patients. CIRU is pleased to be playing a central role in ensuring the platform has the robust processes and safeguards it needs to be a place where researchers can conduct cutting-edge studies with public confidence. It’s particularly encouraging that the public has shown strong support for this approach, recognising the SDE’s potential to drive improvements in healthcare while keeping data secure."
Other Wessex SDE highlights:
Extensive public and patient involvement and engagement (PPIE) has been completed. Engagement with seldom-heard groups, a deliberative dialogue process, and a panel of 20 public participants have put patients and the public at the heart of co-designing the Wessex SDE and its governance.
The Wessex Pre-release SDE has been launched. The Pre-Release SDE platform will initially be accessible to a limited group of authorised researchers through a Platform as a Service’ (PaaS) model. Researchers will be required to obtain separate governance approvals to use the platform.
The SDE has successfully onboarded its first dataset, confirming it as fully operational for secure data handling. This is a crucial step for the full launch in early 2025, that will support advanced research to improve patient outcomes regionally. The dataset onboarded is for a bladder cancer study, ‘Describing Overall Survival and First-Line Treatment Patterns in High-Risk Invasive Urothelial Bladder Carcinoma Post-Resection Patients’, led by Professor Simon Crabb, Principal Investigator and Medical Oncologist at UHS.
