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About the Health Informatics Centre (HIC)
Aims
The Health Informatics Centre (HIC) is a partnership between the University of Dundee, NHS Tayside, NHS Fife and NHS National Services Scotland (ISD). We share a vision of a resource that can benefit all of the people of Scotland. The vision is that by working together we will improve the quality of information, build the systems that can use the information to solve the complex problems of health, and communicate the information in the right format to the right people at the time they need it.
History
Twenty years ago Tayside pioneered the concept of a unique health number for everyone, the Community Health Index or 'CHI' Number. This unique 10 digit number is the key to linking each person's distinct health records in Scotland to improve quality and promote research while preserving complete confidentiality. Due to the foresight of Ronnie Graham, Norman Waugh, James Crooks, Tom MacDonald and Denis McDevitt the CHI number has been used to index all health records in Tayside since the 1980s. In addition, full information about past addresses is maintained in order to track movement in and out of Tayside.
The CHI number is the foundation which can be built on to achieve a fully integrated information system. It allows Tayside to record and link all health related activities, from prescriptions picked up and tests done to surgical procedures carried out and dental appointments kept. Such a wealth of data - all linked to the patient but rigorously anonymised - is beginning to reveal important patterns of health and disease which had previously gone undetected and as a result, use of the CHI number was made mandatory across the Scottish NHS from June 2006.
The Health Informatics Centre is at the heart of this pioneering work and provides a national resource. The Dental Health Services Research Unit moved to the Medical School in 2003 to take a significant role in the development of HIC.