Diffusion of innovation (the diffusion of innovation theory seeks to explain how, why and at what rate new ideas and technology spread) in cancer treatment plays a key role in improving the survival rates and the quality of life of patients affected by cancer.
The NHS has experienced a slower diffusion of innovation compared to the health systems of other countries. To speed up the diffusion of innovation, the Department of Health and Social Care instituted formal cancer networks covering all NHS Trusts in 2001. The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) also issued guidelines intended to increase the adoption of innovative procedures with proven benefits. The aim of the Investigation of Innovation Diffusion within Consultant Specialties research project, led by the Imperial College London Business School, is to understand the role of the government-introduced formal networks and the less formal professional networks of consultant surgeons in determining adherence to these voluntary guidelines.
Information Governance
Study title
Investigation of innovation diffusion within consultant specialties
Principal Investigators: Prof. Dame Carol Propper; Prof. Marisa Miraldo
What are the origins of the data?
NHS England will provide relevant records from the Hospital Episode Statistics (HES) Admitted Patient Care (APC) data from 2000 to 2015. The Data will contain no identifiable items. The Data will be pseudonymised and it will not be possible to re-identify them through linkage with other data in the possession of the recipient.
Imperial College London also holds General Medical Council (GMC) data, including qualifications and the date of qualifications of consultants from 2005 onwards.
Under the Medical Act 1983 the GMC have a valid legal basis to disclose registered doctors Level 1 information (e.g. Gender, name, year and place of primary medical qualification, date of registration etc.) to any enquirer if the information is already published on the List of Registered Medical Practitioners (LRMP). Registered doctors provide their consent for their Level 1 information to be used in this way. For the purposes of this Agreement, Level 1 information is shared by the GMC with Imperial College London.
Imperial College London has a signed Agreement in place with the GMC permitting it to share the entire LRMP dataset with for the purposes of linkage by NHS England with HES Admitted Patient Care and Workforce data. For the purposes of this Agreement, no new information will be gathered on consultants - this is part of the workforce data previously held by the applicant.
What is the purpose of the study?
Diffusion of innovation (the diffusion of innovation theory seeks to explain how, why and at what rate new ideas and technology spread) in cancer treatment plays a key role in improving the survival rates and the quality of life of patients affected by cancer.
The NHS has experienced a slower diffusion of innovation compared to the health systems of other countries. To speed up the diffusion of innovation the Department of Health instituted formal cancer networks covering all NHS Trusts in 2001 and The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) issued guidelines intended to increase the adoption of innovative procedures with proven benefits. The aim of the Investigation of Innovation Diffusion within Consultant Specialties research project, led by the Imperial College Business School, is to understand the role of the government-introduced formal networks and the less formal professional networks of consultant surgeons in determining adherence to these voluntary guidelines.
The project will last from 10/02/2023 to 09/02/2026.
What will happen to the results of the research study?
One set of outputs are anticipated to be statistical analyses submitted to peer reviewed academic papers. These outputs will not contain any data which enables identification of individual patients, consultants, sites or NHS trusts.
Who is organising and funding the research?
The Department of Economics & Public Policy at Imperial College Business School within Imperial College London is organising the research. The project is not externally funded.
Who has reviewed the study?
This study was given favourable opinion by Imperial College Research Ethics Committee (ICREC) and approval by Ruth Nicholson (ref: 7048357).
Contact for further information
If you require further information, please contact Dr Jack Olney, Executive Director of the Centre for Health Economics & Policy Innovation (CHEPI) at Imperial College Business School.
How will we use Information about you?
Research study title: Imperial College London research into UK Health Policy Reform
Imperial College London is the sponsor for this study and will act as the Data Controller for this study. This means that we are responsible for looking after personal data and using it appropriately. Imperial College London will keep the personal data used in this study for 20 years after the study has completed in relation to secondary research data.
We will need to use your information for our research study focusing on how patient outcomes have been impacted by large-scale policy changes in the NHS.
We obtain your information from NHS England after providing assurance that your information will be stored safely and legally. We must justify a valid reason for using your information which will benefit health and care. All the information we hold about you is controlled by legally binding data sharing contracts between the NHS England and Imperial College London.
Data supplied are pseudonymised, a process by which information within a data record that may identify an individual are replaced by artificial identifiers, or pseudonyms which means that individuals are no longer identifiable. Information held includes age, method of admission, source of admission, diagnosis codes, procedure and investigation codes, area of residence, hospital attended, date of attendance, and GP practice of patient. More information on this dataset can be found on the NHS website, Hospital Episode Statistics (HES).
Once we have finished the project, we will keep some of the data so we can check the results. We will write our reports and publications in such a way that no re-identification of individuals will be possible.
Legal basis
We process your personal information for the purposes of scientific research carried out in the public interest in the area of public health. Where we process special categories of personal data (which include data about your health, ethnicity, or sexual orientation), the condition used for processing is ‘necessary for scientific research in accordance with safeguards’.
Sharing your information with others
We do not share your personal data with any third parties outside of the project team at the Centre for Health Economics & Policy Innovation (CHEPI).
What are your choices about how your information is used?
You can stop being part of our research programme at any time, without giving a reason, but we will keep the information about you that we already have. We need to manage your records in specific ways for research to be reliable. This means that we will not be able to let you see or change the data we hold about you.
Where can you find out more about how your information is used?
You can find out more about how we use your information by emailing us: health.economics@imperial.ac.uk
Complaint
If you wish to raise a complaint about how we have handled your personal data, please contact Imperial College London’s Data Protection Officer via email at dpo@imperial.ac.uk, via telephone on 020 7594 3502 and/or via post at Imperial College London, Data Protection Officer, Faculty Building Level 4, London SW7 2AZ.
If you are not satisfied with our response or believe we are processing your personal data in a way that is not lawful you can complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO). The ICO does recommend that you seek to resolve matters with the data controller (us) first before involving the regulator.