NHS data enhancing road safety
Using data to prevent traffic-related injuries and fatalities.
In a world-first, the NHS is taking part in a data-sharing initiative to reduce road deaths and injuries in the UK.
As the nation’s largest cause of fatal and life changing injuries, traffic collisions are claiming the lives of more than 30,000 people a year and costing the economy almost £42 billion.
The Data Sustains Life initiative, a core part of a growing Pre-hospital Research and Audit Network (PRANA), brings together and analyses multiple data sources from emergency services, traffic police, coroners, NHS services and rehabilitation registries, in a first-of-its-kind venture.
The Data Sustains Life project represents a pivotal moment for road safety in the UK. By integrating healthcare and road safety data in ways never before achieved, this initiative provides a critical opportunity to unlock insights that could fundamentally change how we address road crashes and their devastating consequences. This innovative work is essential to driving the progress needed to save lives and create safer, future roads for everyone.
PRANA is one of the first projects to use the Wessex Secure Data Environment (SDE), which is part of the NHS Research SDE Network. The SDE Network aims to unlock the power of patient data to develop new treatments and improve NHS efficiency, effectiveness and safety.
The Data Sustains Life project is jointly funded by the Road Safety Trust and the Department for Transport. PRANA has benefitted from seed funding from Wessex Health Partners, the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR), Southampton Biomedical Research Centre (BRC), the NIHR Wessex Experimental Medicine Network and the NIHR Applied Research Collaboration (ARC) Wessex.
Find out more about the Data Sustains Life project.
Last edited: 17 June 2025 8:36 am