The use of digital technologies in healthcare has made health data more available and valuable than ever before. By transforming data into actionable intelligence, health systems can make more informed decisions, improve service delivery, and achieve better health outcomes.
A more digitised healthcare ecosystem also introduces challenges for cybersecurity threats and data protection. Healthcare is one of the most targeted critical sectors for cyberattacks. These risks present significant challenges for health system leaders working to deliver safe, secure and resilient health services while modernising legacy systems, introducing new AI tools and strengthening security capabilities.
Our work
We use data science and analytics to evaluate health system performance, improve the quality of care, and maximise the value of health data.
In cybersecurity, we support healthcare organisations to assess and strengthen their cybersecurity capacity. This includes evaluating how well prepared they are for cyberattacks, identifying what needs most attention, and developing tailored plans to improve organisations’ resilience.
Click on the tabs below to explore our recent data and cybersecurity projects.
Find out more about our work
Through our Value of Data project, we explore how to maximise the value of NHS data to improve the health and wealth of England, including making the data available for research through the Health Data Research Service.
Read our white papers on this topic:
- NHS Data: Maximising its impact on the health and wealth of the United Kingdom
- NHS Data: Maximising its impact for all
- Building the future of UK health data: a blueprint for the health data research service
Project contact: Dr Saira Ghafur
Since 2024, we have been developing iREACH (improving Resilience Against Cyberattacks in Healthcare), a simulation modelling tool.
It looks at what happens when cyberattacks take NHS hospitals offline, including how the disruption spreads across hospitals in England and how it affects patients.
It uses hospital transfer data to identify which hospitals are most important, measures how disruption to Accident and Emergency departments impacts patients, and uses machine learning to work out how patients could be safely redirected to other hospitals when several hospitals are affected at once.
Project contact: Mr Kunal Rajput
Since 2020, we have been part of one of five analytical teams that make up the Networked Data Lab. Funded by the Health Foundation, it aims to improve health and care services and reduce health inequalities in the UK.
Together with Imperial College Health Partners (ICHP) and the North West London Integrated Care Service, we have used linked datasets to research key health issues:
- COVID-19
- Children and young people’s mental health
- Unpaid carers
- Intermediate care
- Waiting lists for elective care
- The health effects of living with damp and mould
Our partners in North West London shared the findings with local decision-makers, leading to concrete actions. Recently, ICHP brought together organisations from different sectors to discuss housing and health, with the aim of making it easier for residents to get the support they need.
Project contacts: Ms Sophia Batchelor, Ms Ishan Khalsa and Mrs Melanie Leis
The number and severity of cyberattacks in the health sector is on the increase, compromising the health data of millions of people. This increase is connected to the growing digitaisation of health systems. As one the first centres globally to focus on cybersecurity in healthcare, our team of experts works closely with the Department of Health, the National Cybersecurity Centre, commercial companies, and academics to influence practice on effective cyber security.
We have assessed the impact of the 2024 Synnovis cyberattack. Our approach combines a survey of GP practice staff with semi-structured interviews with GPs and practice managers to examine clinical disruption, operational and workforce burden, and cybersecurity preparedness.
In 2024, we published a scoping review which identified the main enablers and barriers to effective cybersecurity interventions by health organisations in low and middle-income countries.
In 2019, we published an in-depth impact analysis of the May 2017 WannaCry ransomware attack on the NHS, highlighting that cyberattacks should be considered a patient safety issue and not just an IT issue.
Project contacts: Dr Saira Ghafur and Mr Kunal Rajput
Our highlights
ECHO
We developed the Essentials of Cybersecurity in Healthcare Organisations (ECHO) framework.
It helps healthcare organisations understand how well protected they are against cyber threats and to identify what they need to do to improve their resilience and cybersecurity maturity. The framework covers key areas of cybersecurity and includes practical checklists to help organisations assess their current position and plan improvements.
Project contacts: Dr Saira Ghafur and Dr Chris Agape Ajah
Building the Future of UK Health Data
Our experts have set out the steps needed for the Health Data Research Service (HDRS) to succeed in a white paper entitled Building the Future of UK Health Data: A Blueprint for the Health Data Research Service.
Scheduled to launch in 2026 and be fully operational by 2030, the HDRS is a unique opportunity to bring access to UK health data together in one place. It has enormous potential to improve patient care, medical research and life sciences innovation – and to increase inward investment and global collaborations – but it faces many challenges.
Lead author, Dr Saira Ghafur, says:
"The HDRS presents an exciting opportunity for England to enable a cohesive, ethical, and scalable health-data research service to realise the potential of NHS data assets whilst maintaining public confidence and professional engagement necessary for long-term success."
Previous projects
During the pandemic, we partnered with YouGov to run bi-weekly surveys that tracked how people in 29 countries responded to COVID. The data, which is publicly available in GitHub, has been used to inform policy reports and has been cited in multiple academic papers. We also partnered with the co-editors of the World Happiness Report to explore people’s wellbeing during that time.
Project contact: Mrs Melanie Leis
We worked with the EPSRC Centre for Mathematics of Precision Healthcare to identify groups of hospitals that share the greatest number of patients and highlighted where patients would most benefit from compatible systems. Read our findings in the British Medical Journal.
Project contact: Dr Jonathan Clarke
We helped develop Streams, a mobile app for medical information and alerts, and analysed its use in hospitals. Discover more in this research paper or news article.
Project contact: Dr Hutan Ashrafian
We used crowdsourced data to create a road traffic injury surveillance tool to help emergency medical systems and road safety interventions.
Project contacts: Ms Seema Yalamanchili and Dr James Kinross