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The Clinical Practice Research Datalink (CPRD) is the new English NHS observational and interventional research service, jointly funded by the NHS National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) and the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA). CPRD will be working closely with the extensive primary care, topic specific and comprehensive NIHR research networks and with the NHS Information Centre for Health and Social Care.

History
“In March 2011, The Government launched its ‘Plan for Growth’ which details steps needed to enable the British economy to become more internationally competitive. As part of this initiative The Government pledged to build a consensus on using e-health record data to create a unique position for the UK in health research.” Launch of the Clinical Practice Research Data Link Following the announcement by the chancellor on the ‘Plan for Growth’, a commissioned study entitled the ‘Research Capability Programme’ was initiated with the aim of assessing the available research capabilities of the UK and future potential growth areas in this sector. An opportunity was identified for the collaboration of the Department of Health and the MHRA in creating a joint research service, based upon consolidating and expanding existing independent services. The new service, known as the CPRD has been developed to meet the expectations and criteria outlined by the ‘Plan for Growth’. At its launch in April 2012, CPRD was established as the new, England-wide NHS observational and interventional research service. It has built on the research developments of the GPRD, and also the Health Research Support Service (HRSS) previously managed by the NIHR Research Capability Program.  The GPRD was a large primary care database, containing anonymised primary care data and links to a number of NHS and other data sources. The GPRD specialised in providing anonymised data and research service capabilities to a variety of medical and public health studies. The HRSS was a pilot service to demonstrate the feasibility of research using a range of health-care information. The HRSS used its analyses and expertise linking large sets of anonymised data for research studies. 

Work of the CPRD
The CPRD builds on its predecessors' capabilities and aims to provide a range of services and products in the areas of medical research and public health care. Fundamental to the work of the CPRD is the collection and linkage of anonymised data sets and provision of research services.

Data
The CPRD utilises the maximum benefit of linked data sets and the UK’s health system to provide researchers with access to high quality anonymous primary and secondary health care data. The data collected allows researches access to a wealth of information including;   Prescribed Primary Care drugs  Administered Hospital drugs  Laboratory data  Consultations  GP and hospital coded disease data  Disease Registers  Cancer Registers 

The NHS provides, free at the point of delivery, healthcare to a population of 52 Million in England. With access to the data sets of NHS in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland the CPRD can provide a population of potentially up to 64 Million patients in the UK. Further access and partnerships have been established to include data sets from other European countries. The linking of anonomysed primary care data with large data registries and related data sets means the CPRD can offer a huge array of data and information for the inclusion in medical research studies. This will include areas sucha as; prescription drugs uses and effect, long term patient treatment strategy, long term health benefit studies, epidemic and pandemic studies and demographic health and welfare studies.

Research Services
The CPRD has a range of research experience and expertise including;

 <li> Pharmacoepidemiology <li> Pharmacoeconomics <li> Research Guidance <li> Protocol Development <li> Research methodology <li> Outcomes <li> Risk benefit. <li> Data verification services

</ul> The CPRD provides consulting services for a range of research activities. Provided by an experienced internal team, the research service offers advice on research methodology and research governance as well as a host of other services. Drawing from its expertise and predecessors' experience the CPRD research team has built a reputation for conducting high-end research projects, from protocol development, gaining approvals for research, data analysis and report and publication writing. The research capacity is such that the CPRD has the resource and expertise to undertake research projects on behalf of customers or independently, for a variety of undertakings from the commercial regulatory, charitable and academic sectors. A huge range of studies from the CPRD and predecessors have been published and a list of published papers can be found at CPRD Research

Interventional Research Services
The CPRD offers a range of interventional research services to facilitate the running of clinical trials. <ul> <li> The assessment of the feasibility of research proposals. <li> Data supply and verification services. <li> Randomisation into the study at the point of care. <li> Clinical trial management support. <li> Long term follow up through routine data collection, minimising the problem of 'lost to follow up'. <li> A framework for conducting pharmacogenetic studies. </ul>

Information collected by the CPRD
The primary health care data collected by the CPRD is taken from participating GP surgeries in the United Kingdom. Personal identifiers are not collected, protecting the privacy of the individuals from whom the data comes. Data collected includes; <ul> <li> Demographics (including age and sex) <li> Medical symptoms, signs and diagnoses <li> Therapy (medicines, vaccines, devices) <li> Treatment outcomes <li> Events leading to withdrawal of a drug or treatment <li> Referrals to hospitals or specialists <li> Laboratory tests, pathology results <li> Lifestyle factors (height, weight, BMI, smoking and alcohol consumption) <li> Socioeconomic status <li> Patient registration, practice and consultation details </ul>