Evaluation of the use of electronic patient records for research

This research was commissioned by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Research Capability Programme in 2010 and ran for one year. The principal investigators were Fiona Stevenson and Paul Wallace.

It focused on the Health Research Support Service (HRSS), which is a major NIHR initiative to process patient-identifiable information from medical records independently of both the data source and the researcher that requires the data ('honest broker' function). We conducted an independent qualitative evaluation of the HRSS Pilot Programme in primary care.

Participant observation was used in practices and meetings about the project alongside focus groups and interviews with key stakeholders (GPs, practice staff, patients). The main areas explored were participants' understandings of the processes involved, views of the acceptability of the HRSS and what people think happens to data from medical records. We were particularly interested in discussions around trust and guardianship of medical records.

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