Using anonymised health records to shape research
At Hampshire and Isle of Wight Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust, research is essential to improving the care and support we provide. One of the ways we strengthen our research is by learning from the real-world experiences of our patients and service users.
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To do this safely and effectively, we use a secure system called Clinical Record Interactive Search (CRIS).
Clinical Record Interactive Search (CRIS)
CRIS is a tool that allows us to analyse anonymised information from patient health records that are held by the Trust; allowing researchers and clinicians to investigate hypotheses and identify patient cohorts. CRIS also provides an invaluable tool for Service Evaluation and Clinical Audit.
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As well as being valuable in helping with your personal clinical care, the information stored in patient records can be used to help us understand more about the causes of physical and mental illnesses and how best to treat them. This is because they allow us to look at large numbers of people in real life situations.
How to access CRIS
Access to CRIS requires either an NHS contract or a Research Passport.
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Please email research.governance@southernhealth.nhs.uk to determine contract required with Southern Health. Requests for access to CRIS should be emailed to cris@southernhealth.nhs.uk
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Users are required to agree to the UK CRIS Terms and Conditions prior to being granted access to CRIS.
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Once your right to access CRIS has been approved you can register your CRIS project.
Registering a CRIS Project
To register your CRIS project please email to cris@southernhealth.nhs.uk. A member of the CRIS team will then contact you to establish the feasibility of your CRIS question.
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Once your project has passed feasibility your project will be formally registered on the CRIS system by a member of the CRIS team. Your project will then be submitted to the CRIS Oversight Group to seek their approval.
Access to the CRIS Secure Environment – Amazon Web Service (AWS)
Access to the CRIS facility is via a secure private network on a research platform with AWS. Once your right to access CRIS has been approved the CRIS Admin team will set up your AWS user account. This will enable you to apply for a CRIS user account, access to the CRIS facility along with statistical analysis software and your project files.
Get in touch
If you'd like to know more about CRIS or how we manage patient information please email: research.governance@southernhealth.nhs.uk