SoftwareOne case study

Health think tank secures its research capabilities on AWS data platform

How SoftwareOne and AWS enabled secure and compliant medical data research in the cloud

Digitized health records hold extraordinary promise for improving care, but their scale and sensitivity means they must be analyzed securely. In the UK, Trusted Research Environments (TREs) have become the default way for unlocking NHS data without compromising privacy or compliance. SoftwareOne won the tender to build a TRE for a UK nonprofit health think tank, helping it move from constrained on-premises systems to a secure, cloud-based environment on AWS. A TRE has higher levels of security configurations, such as in the architecture and data transfer. This led the NHS to warn research bodies against adopting “black-box” solutions to sidestep the TRE challenge. The AWS expertise of SoftwareOne helped the think tank to confront the problem head-on and build its own independent TRE, gaining the ability to combine multiple data sources, improve data quality, and accelerate insight generation while meeting the NHS’s strict governance requirements.

Data access and compliance
Researchers can now mine anonymized NHS patient data for insight
Infrastructure innovation
Moves health analytics from on-premises to the cloud
30% fewer mismatched data
TRE project improved the accuracy of patient records

Client: UK health think tank
Industry: Healthcare
Platform: AWS Cloud
Services: Cloud Services: AWS Landing Zone
Country: United Kingdom

SoftwareOne wins tender to build health data platform on AWS

The digitized health records of millions of people going back decades are an invaluable resource for medical research. However, the biggest obstacle to using data to advance patient care and outcomes is the data itself – the sheer volume and the sensitive nature of the information it contains.

In the UK, the default way for researchers to leverage National Health Service (NHS) records is through Trusted Research Environments (TREs).

A TRE is a secure environment that researchers enter to work on the data remotely, rather than downloading it onto their own local machines. They can use cloud services to analyze and process data and extract results in a secure and logged way.

A UK nonprofit health advocate and think tank needed to build its own TRE to carry out independent research. SoftwareOne won a tendering process and delivered a TRE built on Amazon Web Services (AWS).

That this is not a simple task was made clear in a UK government guidance that posits TREs as the default requirement for the use of NHS data in research and analysis. It cautions against “pushing away” the challenge of developing viable TREs by procuring black-box services, and states:

“Building platforms, capacity and modern working methods for data is a complex technical challenge, requiring deep knowledge across a range of domains: data science, data architecture, and software development; but also clinical informatics, NHS data needs, health data research, and more.”

It is this complexity that SoftwareOne addresses in its project of building a TRE in AWS for a UK health think tank.

How SoftwareOne built a Trusted Research Environment on AWS

SoftwareOne’s Trusted Research Environment on AWS is built on a layered architecture that combines secure data access, governance, and scalability. It ensures sensitive data is protected throughout its lifecycle while enabling collaboration and reproducible research.

The TRE includes three integrated components, as illustrated in the graphic:

Data Review and Transfer Component: Controls all data movement into and out of the TRE, ensuring every exchange is authorized and auditable.
Data Environment: Provides governed data storage, lifecycle management, and Extract, Transform, Load (ETL) capabilities to prepare datasets for analysis.
Virtual Research Environment: Enables approved users to self-service right-sized compute with AWS compute resources with authorized tools and project data. The TRE prevents “data leakage” from one project to another by setting strict controls on file transfer, upload, and copy actions.

Trusted Research Environments on AWS – Solution Architecture

The foundation of the TRE is the Secure landing zone, which was designed and built by SoftwareOne. It deploys Amazon Identity and Access Managementa nd AWS Control Tower is the core service with additional security and compliance services including AWS Config, AWS CloudTrail for logging Amazon Guard Duty, and AWS Lambda to automate building blocks for other Organizational Units.

The SoftwareOne TRE allowed the think tank to move its research infrastructure from on-premises to the cloud and put in place the strict compliance and security requirements mandated by the NHS.

Building platforms, capacity and modern working methods for data is a complex technical challenge, requiring deep knowledge across a range of domains: data science, data architecture, and software development; but also clinical informatics, NHS data needs, health data research, and more.

UK Department of Health and Social Security report, April 2022

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Overcome complexity with AWS

Let us help you resolve mission-critical challenges that require more than off-the-shelf solutions. Stay ahead of the curve with the support of expertise and close partnership with AWS.

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SoftwareOne TRE leverages advances in computing and AI for health research

The deployment of the TRE has enabled the independent UK health think tank to use multiple data sources combined with NHS data to carry out its important research. The huge value of TREs lies in working with mixed sources in a secure and compliant way.

The think tank has also observed a number of gains in the area of data management. The TRE has facilitated better data cleansing and profiling, reducing mismatches and inaccuracies in patient data. For example, the project achieved a 30% reduction in mismatched data and improved the accuracy of patient records.

By delivering a robust Trusted Research Environment on AWS, SoftwareOne enabled a key player in health thought leadership to advance its research using sensitive NHS data.

The rapid advances in GenAI and data science more broadly, coupled with the availability of high-performance computing, mean TREs are now vital to reaching optimal research outcomes while maintaining compliance and security.

This is what SoftwareOne delivered for its UK client. The solution replaced on-premises infrastructure with a secure, compliant, and scalable platform that minimized risk and improved data quality. Most importantly, the TRE provides a trusted foundation for ongoing and future research, allowing insights to be generated responsibly while maintaining the highest standards of data compliance and governance.

The rapid advances in GenAI and data science more broadly, coupled with the availability of high-performance computing, mean TREs are now vital to reaching optimal research outcomes while maintaining compliance and security.