OpenSpecimen User Meeting 9 Dec 2014

NIHR Leicester Cardiovascular BRU, OpenSpecimen and open source

Nick Holden, Systems and Database Architect, LCBRU

NIHR Leicester Cardiovascular BRU - Open source (mostly) research informatics platform

CiviCRM for participant management and engagement

i2b2 for cohort discovery, and data integration

REDCap for electronic data capture

CaTissuePlus (!) for specimen management

NIHR Leicester Cardiovascular BRU

- “At the heart of research”

Funded since 2009 by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR).

A partnership between the University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust and the University of Leicester.

Two translational themes: genetics and novel therapeutic interventions.

One of three BRUs in Leicester, 11 BRCs and 20 BRUs nation-wide.

A new building, and participation in a national NIHR BioResource.

NIHR Leicester Cardiovascular BRU

- CaTissuePlus

16 protocols, 93 users

17,767 participants

330,117 specimen

Fluid (blood and urine) and fluid derived only, a heart on its way!

We will upgrade to OpenSpecimen soon!

The NHS and Open Source

- A clash of cultures

Connecting for Health, a 'national programme' (NPfIT). £10billion / 12 yrs

Now the Health and Social Care Information Centre (HSCIC)

Centralised planning replaced by local deliverables

Corporate contracts replaced by (some) agile methodologies

Some spine services work well and are largely ignored

Research and Open Source

- Established in many institutions

Academia has always been open source friendly

NIHR BioResource has many sites using OpenClinica, REDCap, etc.

LIMS systems still almost exclusively commercial products

NIHR still makes no recommendations for infrastructure

The NHS and Open Source

- A new hope?

NHS Spine 2, live in August 2014, built on open source Riak database

£20million recently earmarked for Open Source clinical developments

Specific Open Source Technology Programme at NHS England

Everything from local department to full EHR implementations

Not much in the laboratory space yet...

http://trac.lcbru.le.ac.uk/