Development of a Pseudonymised Digital Image Archive

This was an £80,000 project involving several hospital trusts in the north east. Permission for access to medical records was obtained from the relevant authorities. Relevant software licences, resources and personnel were engaged. DICOM files were obtained from each of the modalities. A novel approach to pseudonymsation was developed. Transfer and pseudonymisation was achieved.

A huge repository of nearly 1 million medical images was transferred from local hospitals to the university without breaching data protection concerns. No patients can be identified from the files. These are now a valuable tool for the education of health care professionals and research.