Supporting research teams

The RSC is a resource which can support a wide range of research and surveillance studies including qualitative, quantitative, retrospective and prospective.

We are interested in hearing from potential research collaborators including colleagues from: GP Practices, Primary Care Networks, Integrated Care Systems, NHS, universities, other healthcare providers, and health research providers.

What we can offer

  • Near real-time England population health dat - with twice weekly data extractions, the dataset is one of the most up to date in the UK.
  • Longitudinal and representative data - The RSC is the oldest sentinel network in Europe and is representative of the English population on a variety of domains, both demographic and clinical.
  • High quality-assured data - RSC practices receive continuous support and training by a dedicated team of Practice Liaison Officers. Practice members also have access to personalised dashboard, which shows an aggregated version of their data by week and compared with the rest of the network.
  • Data linkage capability - The RSC team have the capability to link to numerous other health datasets, via pseudonymised NHS numbers. NB: researchers must obtain other datasets separately.
  • Direct link with our practices - Our Practice Liaison team have direct link with our practices, who are willing to administer questionnaires, take biological samples, put on focus groups, and take part in trials. The network can participate in research, quality improvement and surveillance beyond providing data.
  • Concierge services - these will be tailored to your needs and will help you prepare and fast-track your data application.

If you are looking to run a study that requires more than data, associated costs can be built in. Please contact practiceenquiries@phc.ox.ac.uk for more information.

Our data

We extract pseudonymised coded data weekly from over 2000 general practices across England (over 20 million registered patients).

The ORCHID database contains pseudonymised coded data from primary care practices capturing information on:

  • Demographics
  • Diagnoses and symptoms
  • Drug exposures
  • Vaccination history
  • Laboratory tests
  • Referrals to hospital and specialist care

For members of the Oxford-RCGP RSC, please use this form to express your interest in participating in our surveillance projects and studies. If you have any questions then please contact the Practice Liaison Team.