DataLoch

Access routinely collected health and social care data through a secure data environment.

DataLoch, a service developed by the University of Edinburgh and NHS Lothian, offers secure access to data for approved applicants.

DataLoch brings together routinely collected health and social care data from the South-East Scotland region, such as interactions with health services, details of hospital or GP visits, prescriptions, clinical outcomes and test results.

DataLoch
Summary of data available More about DataLoch

Data are collected from various sources. The DataLoch team works with academic and clinical experts to process the raw data, clean them, de-identify them and link them together. This careful collating and processing ensures the data are of a high standard and in a “research-ready” format.

With the involvement of clinical experts, DataLoch also organises the data in disease-specific or condition-specific registries. For instance, there is a DataLoch Respiratory Registry, as well as one focused on COVID-19.

All data are held in a trusted research environment and various checks are necessary to access them. The application process involves assessing whether the intended research is in the interest of patients and the public, and ensuring the data request aligns with the key research questions. Once the application is approved, researchers get access to de-identified data specific to their research project through DataLoch’s secure data environment. They can also make use of statistical and analytical tools (e.g. RStudio) within this secure data environment.

The secure data environment is hosted by EPCC at the University of Edinburgh and has been developed with Public Health Scotland.

The mission of DataLoch is to help researchers solve challenging health and care problems and improve wellbeing across society. All successful applications are published on the DataLoch website when researchers have access to the approved data. See which projects have been delivered so far.

DataLoch projects

Free or paid for

DataLoch is a not-for-profit service. Charges are levied depending on the complexity of the project and the funding organisation. Charges cover the required support and infrastructure costs (e.g. the time needed to prepare data, the use of computing resources).

Product Features

  • Get access to high-quality, processed and de-identified health and social care data covering the South-East Scotland region
  • Work within a secure data environment
  • Access statistical and analytical tools (e.g. RStudio)
  • Your project is published on the DataLoch website

Applicable Disciplines

  • Health Professions
  • Neuroscience
  • Immunology and Microbiology
  • Nursing
  • Psychology
  • Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology
  • Medicine
  • Pharmacology, Toxicology and Pharmaceutics
  • Routine Health Data
  • Health
  • Healthcare
  • Social Care
  • Cardiology
  • Primary Care
  • Secondary Care

Terms & Conditions

General

  • All access requests need to meet a number of key governance criteria
  • Researchers will be granted access to the minimal amount of data required to answer the research questions
  • All data is accessed through DataLoch’s secure data environment
  • DataLoch processes the data in accordance with the NHS Lothian DataLoch Privacy Notice
  • Researcher details are processed according to the privacy notice on the DataLoch website


Support and Training

  • View the DataLoch FAQs


Contact Details

Use this contact form to get in touch with the DataLoch team