27 Jul 2026
Join Layla Robinson, Chief Operating Officer for Research Data Scotland, at this online conference examining next steps for the use of patient data in the UK.
Hosted by Westminster Health Forum, the conference will bring together stakeholders and policymakers to discuss priorities for development of the Health Data Research Service, approaches to data access and linkage, data security, and options for strengthening governance, public trust and system coordination.
The agenda will assess approaches to progressing towards a more connected data infrastructure that can optimally support research use, including priorities for strengthening data collection, linkage, and quality across primary care, hospital, medicines, and mortality datasets. Priorities for accountability will be considered, alongside ways forward for maintaining trust - particularly with underserved communities, including groups with lower engagement, limited access to services, or historically lower levels of trust - alongside what will be needed to deliver and communicate demonstrable benefits to patients and the public.
It will also be an opportunity to discuss the NHS Modernisation Bill announced recently in the King’s Speech, including proposals to introduce a Single Patient Record across all care settings. Delegates will consider practicalities for joining up fragmented health information and improving continuity of care, assessing how stakeholder concerns might be addressed around governance, transparency and confidentiality as the system moves toward more standardised and interoperable data flows.
Key themes for the conference will include:
Transparency, patient safety & data security
Data access, usage & integration
Health Data Research Service coordination, governance & regulation
Dr Nicola Byrne, National Data Guardian for Health and Social Care in England
Professor Cathie Sudlow, Review Lead, Uniting the UK’s Health Data: A Huge Opportunity for Society; Director, Usher Institute; and Head, School of Population Health Sciences, University of Edinburgh
Professor Raghib Ali, CEO, Chief Investigator and Chief Medical Officer, Our Future Health
Dr Melanie Ivarsson, CEO, Health Data Research Service
Layla Robinson, Chief Operating Officer, Research Data Scotland
Dr Elizabeth Ford, Brighton and Sussex Medical School; Professor Ben Goldacre, University of Oxford; Dr Daphne Hazell, Primary Care Research Alliance; Nuria Pastor, Fieldfisher; Dr Kristin-Anne Rutter, Cambridge University Health Partners and Eastern England Secure Data Environment; Dr Chris Tomlinson, King’s College London and UCL Institute of Health Informatics
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