Data security and access

Home » Regional Maternity Survey Office » Data security and access

Data from the RMSO are used:

To support local and regional audit in obstetrics, paediatrics and midwifery services across the region;
As a regional component of national and international surveillance programmes;
To monitor and evaluate the antenatal screening programmes;
As a platform for research into causes of deaths, anomalies, disability and issues of service quality; and
To monitor local progress towards the national inequalities target

Clinical governance

Senior clinical staff have access on request to named patient data from their own units for audit and quality control purposes. Directors of Public Health have access to data for their own Primary Care Trust or Strategic Health Authority populations on specific request to address issues of concern.

Research

Applications to access data for research purposes are made using the RMSO documentation and must comply with RMSO guidance. Requests for access to named data will require Local or Multi Research Ethics Committee approval for the project. Advice is available from the Director or the Clinical Director of the RMSO. The RMSO has always enthusiastically supported research using data from the surveys and registers.