A Unique Property Reference Number (UPRN) is a unique identifier given to every address or property in the UK. It’s especially useful in research because it allows information from different datasets to be accurately linked to the same location.

Headshot of Alan Holcroft, member of Health Data Research UK's Public Advisory Board.
Alan Holcroft, HDR UK Public Advisory Board member.

Alan Holcroft shares how members of HDR UK’s Public Advisory Board helped shape new guidance and training for researchers using UPRNs in their work, including how to incorporate public involvement and engagement into every step of place-based health data research.

I am a member of the public, sitting on the Public Advisory Board (PAB) at HDR UK. Along with several of my colleagues, we were asked if we would be interested in helping develop best practice advice for researchers working with UPRNs, a piece of work led by the HDR UK Social and Environmental Determinants of Health Driver Programme.

But what is PAB and why was public involvement important in this work?

You might ask “what is this PAB?”. Well, it is a group of people who bring diverse perspectives and draw attention to public perceptions of health data, including how it’s accessed and used for research. The PAB is embedded within HDR UK’s governance structure to provide strategic advice and help ensure that HDR UK’s work delivers real benefits for patients and the public, through the responsible use of data in health research.

You might also ask “Why ask us to look into UPRNs?”, as many of us had not heard of the term when we were approached, let alone knew what it stood for!

We did, however, understand the rationale – to connect health-related data on all of us over time with social and environmental data linked to a house or a household, that can put context around the data. This in turn can provide insight that can lead to improved health outcomes.

Our involvement was quite clear – to help the team keep in mind the concerns of the public in relation to linking health data to UPRNs, including the kinds of questions or worries people might have when information about their health is connected to where they live.

“A truly collaborative approach”

From the outset, it was clear that the project team had a clear plan on making the best use of PAB involvement. For example, they were well organised across the series of four online meetings, with documents circulated ahead of each, to allow best use of the time available.

It soon became clear that this was not going to be just a ‘tick box’ level of involvement – right from the initial contact, the ‘ask’ of the PAB members was to co-create educational resources for researchers. The project team took our comments and feedback away and looked to incorporate them into subsequent drafts – a truly collaborative approach.

And yes, the project team also spent time early on explaining terminology, such as UPRNs!

This openness made it easier for us to contribute meaningfully and ensured the final guidance reflected real public perspectives.

Top tips for involving the public in place-based health data research

The result is a list of ‘Top Tips’ that I believe are a set of great reminders to consider as you create projects using UPRNs for health data research. These tips are practical, easy to follow, and designed to help researchers embed public involvement from the very beginning.

The tips cover the different phases of a project such as:

  • Project planning
  • Project set up
  • Research governance planning
  • Public Involvement & engagement (PIE) recruitment planning
  • Involvement and engagement activities

There are also some video clips summarising the top tips for each phase – so do please take the time to read through the top tips or watch the video clips, to better your understanding of how public involvement and engagement can contribute to effective and ethical health data research using UPRN-linked data.

Access the guidance for free

To learn more, explore the full training resource on HDR UK Futures and discover how UPRNs can support better, more informed health data research.

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