Data saves lives animations

We've produced a series of animations to explain how data saves lives. Following the journeys of patients with cancer, a heart attack, diabetes, dementia and asthma, they show the huge range of ways data is used to improve care, and the safeguards that are in place to protect confidentiality.

About the series

In the age of digital communication and high-tech research, sharing data is more important than ever before. When the NHS was founded in 1948 things were quite different. Our medical records lived in dusty drawers, alone and unloved, with their life-saving potential often untapped. Today it’s a different story. From dementia to diabetes to asthma, by looking at patient data across the NHS, we can improve patient care.

Better use of data is essential to speed up diagnosis, research new treatments, plan better NHS services and monitor the safety of drugs. And yet, much of the population feel they don’t know how patient data is used in the NHS. Without enough information, people may worry about how data is collected, stored or used.

That's why we created a series of animations to explain how data saves lives. The animation series has been developed in partnership with charities, patients and clinicians to try to address this gap in information. Following the journeys of patients with cancer, a heart attack, diabetes, dementia and asthma, they show the huge range of ways data is used to improve care, and the safeguards that are in place to protect confidentiality.

The animations have been produced with a cc-by licence and are available for reuse by anyone.

Check out this blog for more information.

Find out why and how patient data is used.

Translations

To make our work more accessible to more people, we have translated our Data Saves Lives animation series into the top languages spoken in the UK after English (Polish, Punjabi, Romanian and Urdu) as well as Welsh.

Find the translated versions here