Govt open data policy "set to boost UK life sciences growth"

"The UK government's Autumn Statement includes "world-leading commitments" to boost growth in the nation's life sciences sector by transforming access to public-sector health and care data. From next September, services provided by the NHS Information Centre for Health and Social Care will link datasets from primary and secondary care, which will enable professionals in the NHS, pharmaceutical industry, academia and elsewhere to access unprecedented and unequalled levels of information about the journeys of patients through the care system and the outcomes of different treatments, it says. Provision of these "world-first" linked data services will improve medical practice and is also expected to put the UK "in a prime positive for research investment," according to the Cabinet Office...."