How OneAdvanced and NWEH are transforming clinical research through clinical data integration

We believed there was a better way. 

By integrating real-world data directly into research, we can make trials faster, safer, and more inclusive for everyone. 

Our new collaboration with NorthWest EHealth (NWEH) is a significant step towards this vision. By combining our expertise in healthcare data systems with NWEH’s innovative research platforms, we’re bridging the gap between routine clinical care and cutting-edge research.  

Recently, Digital Health’s News Reporter, Jordan Sollof, sat down with leaders from both our organisations—Nicole Kayode, our VP of Product for Health & Care, alongside Jo Verity, Head of Clinical Operations, and Rachel Downham, Chief Commercial Officer, from NWEH—to discuss how this partnership came about and where it’s heading. 

A partnership built on innovation 

Our partnership with NorthWest EHealth (NWEH) has been in development for around 19 months, following an early identification of the significant opportunity to work together to enhance real-world clinical trial delivery. 

This collaboration has enabled the capability to utilise GP Document Workflow (Docman) clinical correspondence data within NWEH’s decentralised trial model. By integrating this data, we’ve strengthened informed clinical decision-making, improved operational efficiency for both NWEH and participating GP practices, and provided even greater safety oversight throughout the lifecycle of each trial. 

As Nicole Kayode, VP of Product for Health & Care, explained during the discussion, "When NorthWest EHealth reached out about the opportunity to support clinical trials, it was really aligned to the direction of travel we were thinking of going anyway. You've got a trusted partner in NorthWest EHealth that has done this kind of delivery before, and a trusted partner in us that has supplied systems to the NHS for 30-plus years. It felt like a bit of a no-brainer for us to join forces and find a way to integrate the clinical record directly into the research process." 

By bringing data from our GP Document Workflow platform—our document solution managing vital correspondence like referrals and discharge summaries—we now provide a rich, longitudinal view of the patient journey that was previously difficult to access for research. 

Uniting patient care and clinical research 

For years, clinical trials have operated in a silo, separate from the day-to-day reality of patient care. And this disconnect creates challenges. Identifying and recruiting eligible patients can be a slow, manual process, relying on busy GP practices to sift through records. Once a trial begins, monitoring patient safety often depends on participant recall or scheduled visits, which can lead to delays in identifying adverse events. 

Our partnership with NWEH directly addresses these issues. NWEH has developed powerful platforms like Farsight, which identifies potential trial candidates from non-identifiable patient data, and ConneXon, a data hub that brings patient records together with their consent. 

At OneAdvanced, we support this by enabling access to a richer, more complete data set. We provide feeds of both structured data from clinical systems and, crucially, unstructured data from sources like transfer-of-care documents managed by GP Document Workflow. 

Vital details about a patient’s journey through the healthcare system can now be integrated directly into NWEH’s platforms, providing a near real-time view of a patient’s health. 

Jo Verity, Head of Clinical Operations at NWEH, highlighted the impact of our data sharing: "As soon as I was aware that OneAdvanced had the capacity to share patient data—their discharge summaries, the medical letters shared between general practice and secondary care—it opened so many more doors for us to deliver research in different models. It allows us to really decentralise delivery models for clinical research." 

As Rachel Downham, Chief Commercial Officer at NWEH, noted, "People who take part don't have the burden of having to be at a specific study centre every week, which may have been an inhibitor. This includes primary caregivers, people with kids to get to school, and workplaces to be at. It's ensuring we can bring in a population that historically may not have taken part, so we have equity in real-world trials.” 

The power of a data-driven approach 

Clinical data integration allows sponsors to quickly determine if a sufficient number of eligible patients exist for a proposed study. For NWEH, our data integration has already proven invaluable for screening activities, ensuring participants meet the strict eligibility criteria required for a trial. 

This offers several key benefits: 

1. Stronger safety surveillance 

Patient safety is the highest priority in any clinical trial. By providing access to a patient’s latest clinical correspondence, our partnership enables real-time safety monitoring. If a consented trial participant visits a hospital, for example, that information becomes available almost immediately. 

This allows research teams to identify potential adverse events as they happen, rather than waiting for the next scheduled appointment. This proactive approach to pharmacovigilance strengthens safety and provides greater confidence for sponsors and regulators. 

Patient data is also only accessed where explicit informed consent has been provided, with consent being obtained at the point of enrolment. Once consent is given, relevant electronic health record (EHR) data feeds securely into our clinical trials platform, ConneXon, enabling longitudinal oversight while maintaining robust governance standards. 

"Patient safety is paramount in any research study, and this gives us the opportunity to survey patient safety while they're on a study," said Jo Verity. "We can view a patient who's been discharged at a moment's notice, which creates an opportunity to look at real-time adverse events. This wasn't possible in the research models of old, which were more hospital-based." 

This capability allows research teams to act immediately if a safety concern arises, providing greater confidence to sponsors and regulators while ensuring the wellbeing of participants. 

2. More inclusive and accessible trials 

Traditional trials often require participants to travel to specific research centres, creating a barrier for many people due to distance, time, or mobility issues. Our collaboration helps support decentralised and hybrid trials, where research activities are embedded alongside patient care. 

This reduces the burden on patients, minimising disruption to their daily lives and making participation more accessible. The result is a more diverse and representative group of participants, ensuring new treatments are tested on a population that truly reflects real-world patient diversity. 

Rachel Downham explained how their Farsight platform uses our data: "We look at ethnicity, gender—we all know that in many trials, women are underserved—and we also have deprivation scoring. We can identify areas where people may not have the economic means to be part of trials." 

3. Reducing the load on healthcare professionals 

Instead of asking GPs to manually search for eligible patients, the system automates much of the identification and pre-screening process. While the GP remains the ultimate decision-maker on whether a patient is suitable for a trial, our partnership frees up their valuable time to focus on routine patient care. 

But crucially, we’re committed to doing this securely and ethically. "For us as an organisation, data sovereignty is also a big thing," Nicole Kayode stated. "With the rise of AI, it's been really important to us to make sure our data is held securely in the UK. We are also ISO 42001 certified, one of the few organisations in the world with this ISO certification around how we use AI." 

Building the future through healthcare innovation 

When asked in our latest Annual Trends Report 2026 ‘Do you feel aligned with the NHS 10 Year Plan?’, only 42% of healthcare providers said they did. But the plan outlines a clear goal for driving digital transformation: data must do more than just support today’s care. It must actively enable prevention, improve safety, and deliver better outcomes at scale. This partnership is a practical example of that vision in action. 

By connecting routine care with research and innovation, we’re helping to create a learning healthcare system. That’s because the insights generated can help lead to safer trials, faster drug development, and ultimately a healthier population. 

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If you’re a healthcare professional or part of an organisation interested in the future of clinical research, now is the time to explore how a data-driven approach can transform your work.

Take a look at IQ Health, our portfolio of healthcare solutions, built for both clinical and non-clinical users across primary care.