What approvals has this study received?

The IA study uses historical data collected for a very large group of patients (over 260,000) so it was not possible to ask for consent from each individual. We received permission to conduct this research study from the independent ethical review committees and organisations responsible for the data of NHS patients and research involving NHS patients listed below:

Royal Free Research Ethics Committee (REC)
Section 251 approval from the Patient Information Advisory Group (PIAG – a predecessor of both the National Information Governance Board/NIGB and the Confidentiality Advisory Group) in England, and equivalent panels in Scotland, the Community Health Index Advisory Group (CHIAG) and the Privacy Advisory Committee (PAC) of National Services Scotland (NSS)
Research and Development approval from the NHS Trusts managing all hospitals involved in the study
Approval from the Caldicott Guardian of the North West London NHS Trust
Approval from the UK Association of Cancer Registries

In 2017, we submitted an amendment to the IA study to include the AA study objectives and have received approval from:

London – Hampstead Research Ethics Committee (previously Royal Free REC)
NHS Health Research Authority, including section 251 approval
In 2018, we received further approval from NHS Digital and NHS Scotland.

Our Patient Data page provides details on some of these bodies.