Background to National Core Studies In response to the COVID-19 emergency, The UK Government swiftly established the National Core Studies (NCS) initiative in Summer 2020 to tackle the unique combination of health risks posed by the pandemic. In a letter to key strategic delivery partners sent by the Chief Medical Officer, Sir Patrick Vallance, experts…
Last month, Health Data Research (HDR) UK, in partnership with the Alan Turing Institute, announced nine successful applications following a £2m UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) funding call to support UK Government’s National Core Study (NCS) programme. Nine projects were funded, with five of those requesting to use the Secure Anonymised Information Linkage (SAIL) Databank,…
They may be seen as the ones least vulnerable to transmission and the negative health impacts of Covid-19, but pandemic restrictions disrupted young people’s education, physical activity and opportunities to socialise.
Findings of the research suggest that school closures result in widening health inequalities and as schools return, measures will need to be in place to re-address the widened gap in physical health and wellbeing. The research was led by Swansea University’s Dr Michaela James and the HAPPEN Network. HAPPEN is part of the National Centre…
New research by Swansea University found that when children from different classes mixed, for example at breakfast and extra-curricular clubs, there was no increased likelihood of Covid-19 in the school, supporting opportunities for pupils to mix and play together. The research team also found that the more direct contacts primary school staff had with people…
The first population-level study of COVID-19 transmission between pupils and staff in a school environment has shown that the opening of schools in Wales between September and December 2020 was not associated with an increased risk of staff testing positive. The study, which was carried out by the One Wales COVID-19 response team, found that…
Six months on from its launch, Health Data Research UK’s (HDR UK) National Core Studies Data & Connectivity programme has proven to be a crucial component of the UK’s COVID-19 response. In a recent letter from HDR UK Director, Andrew Morris, and CEO, Caroline Cake, Swansea University’s SAIL Databank was thanked for its important contribution…
As cases of Covid-19 increased in the UK, access to timely data was, and continues to be, a fundamental part of understanding and tackling the virus for those working within policy and research.
The programme-makers interviewed Swansea University’s Professor Ronan Lyons, Director of SAIL Databank, who summarised the insights gleaned from the rich health data in SAIL from the first peak of the virus.
A team from Population Data Science at Swansea University is to join a network of 41 partners from across 30 countries as part of the ‘Population Health Research Infrastructure’ (PHIRI), a new mechanism for organising and sharing information on COVID-19.
