Joined Up Leeds gets backing

Opportunities to share data to help people look after their health moved a step closer after Leeds Health and Wellbeing board agreed to promote individual data-sharing projects in the city and support any future initiatives to enable citizens to take a greater role in owning their health and social records.



During the ‘Joined Up Leeds’ citywide conversation between the public sector and the people of Leeds, citizens were asked to think and talk about information sharing, its benefits, and concerns.



The different organisations and departments making up the NHS and local authority hold a lot of information about people. However, current data sharing rules and arrangements mean health and wellbeing service providers can’t always get the full picture of how they can best provide help.



Councillor Lisa Mulherin, Chair of Leeds Health and Wellbeing Board, said:



“Leeds is striving to be the best city for health and wellbeing, and to be a global leader for health innovation. If we miss opportunities to use information appropriately, then the city’s ability to improve health outcomes and reduce inequalities is made harder.



“The council and NHS are keen to get a better understanding of what people think and feel about how their information should be used, so it has been good to see Joined Up Leeds delivering a chance for people to give us their views meaning we can make decisions based on evidence rather than speculation.”



Fiona Fylan, Director of Brainbox Research who carried out the engagement, said:



“People are clearly supportive of information being used to plan services better and deliver more seamless health and social care. They recognise there is a need to collect, share and analyse information to deliver the best possible health and social care and improve services by learning from the past and anticipating the future.



“This research provides evidence of ways people are happy for their information to be used for and how their concerns could be addressed. It provides insight into why people differ in how much information they want to share. People in Leeds are ready to embrace a future in which information plays a central role in their care. At the same time organisations need to understand how people feel about how their information is used and to make sure individuals feel in control of their information.”



Alastair Cartwright, Director of Informatics, NHS Leeds North Clinical Commissioning Group, said:



“We’ve had praise from a local and national level, including those previously known to be critical of the way in engage with citizens. We took that into account, and specifically targeted pubs, cafes, community and leisure centres where people gather and chat.”



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Notes for editors

More information about Joined Up Leeds is available at: http://www.brainboxresearch.com/news/joined-up-leeds/



Issued by:



Phil Morcom



Communications and Marketing team

Leeds City Council, 4th Floor West, Civic Hall, Leeds, LS1 1UR



Mobile: 07891 276270



Fax: 0113 247 4736

www.leeds.gov.uk