UK Biobank is safely sharing health data to drive medical research | Letter

Prof Rory Collins, CEO of UK Biobank, responds to concerns about access to UK patient information, highlighting the safeguards and research benefits

Your report (Revealed: Chinese researchers can access half a million UK GP records, 15 April) fails to recognise the importance of data in advancing health research, when shared safely, securely and on a global scale. UK Biobank was set up 20 years ago by the Medical Research Council and Wellcome with the mission to create the most detailed source of health data for researchers worldwide. The dream became a reality thanks to half a million volunteers across the UK.

Researchers from academia, charity and industry, and from more than 60 countries, including China, are using UK Biobank data to study the entire spectrum of human health, producing thousands of groundbreaking studies. This is leading to new ways to predict, prevent and targetdiseases.