The article describes a new secure analytics platform called OpenSAFELY, developed by the Bennett Institute in collaboration with health research charity Wellcome and other organizations. The platform is designed to protect patients' personal data while allowing researchers to analyze it without accessing the raw data.

Here are the key features and benefits of OpenSAFELY:

1. **No data movement**: The platform does not extract or move patient data from its original location, which reduces the risk of unauthorized access. 2. **Querying at rest**: Researchers can query patient data stored in datacenters run by GP system suppliers without accessing the raw data. 3. **Privacy and reproducibility**: OpenSAFELY ensures that researchers never have direct access to patient data, promoting privacy and reproducibility. 4. **Reproducible analysis**: The platform allows researchers to share their methods and results transparently through Github repositories, facilitating accountability and peer review. 5. **Collaboration with various organizations**: Over 31 research universities and organizations have used OpenSAFELY for over 181 projects, and more than 100 of them are completed.

Benefits:

1. **Enhanced patient safety**: By not moving or accessing patient data, OpenSAFELY reduces the risk of data breaches and protects patients' sensitive information. 2. **Increased research efficiency**: The platform allows researchers to analyze patient data without exposing it to unauthorized access, streamlining the analysis process. 3. **Improved reproducibility and accountability**: OpenSAFELY's use of Github repositories enables transparent sharing of methods and results, promoting accountability and peer review in healthcare research.

Potential applications:

1. **Mental health therapy outcomes**: Wellcome has awarded £7 million to assess mental health therapy outcomes anonymously, considering relative values of different anxiety and depression counseling methods and treatments. 2. **Education**: The National Institute of Teaching is using OpenSAFELY to assess interventions affecting student outcomes in high schools without identifying teachers or students. 3. **Retail analytics**: Some retail chains are interested in the secure analytics protocol for analyzing customer data, such as loyalty card schemes, to inform corporate social responsibility initiatives.

Overall, OpenSAFELY offers a novel approach to securing sensitive patient data while facilitating research and analysis, promoting both patient safety and scientific progress.