----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Nicola Tose" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Tuesday, October 14, 2008 2:57 PM
Subject: Government action to fund gaps in health research


Government action to fund gaps in health research

A new £5 million research programme which is intended to lead to an increase
in service quality and patient safety through better ways of planning and
providing health services was announced today by Public Health Minister Dawn
Primarolo, during a visit to Southampton.

The new Health Services Research (HSR) programme will provide funding
across the country for a broader range of health services research than is
already covered by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR)
programmes. These include the Health Technology Assessment programme
(HTA), the Service Delivery & Organisation programme (SDO), the Efficacy &
Mechanism Evaluation programme (EME), Programme Grants for Applied
Research and the Research for Patient Benefit (RfPB) programme.

These programmes are all specialist sub-sets in the field of health services
research, which means that some projects may be difficult to fund because
they fall outside of established NIHR funding streams, as well as those
covered
by the Medical Research Council and the Department of Health.

The HSR programme will fund research mainly through a researcher-led
workstream, whereby grants are provided for both primary and evidence
synthesis on topics proposed directly by researchers, on an ongoing basis.
The programme may also advertise calls for research proposals on specific
topics. The first call for expressions of interest will be taking place in
January
2009. For more details and to register your interest visit
www.hsr.nihr.ac.uk

Dawn Primarolo said:

“Health services research produces knowledge that can lead to the
improvement of health policy, health systems, and health care delivery,
ultimately resulting in improvements in population health. This area of
research
has already made a valuable contribution to the improvement of health and
health care in the UK. With this new programme we are taking action to fund
important research where there is currently no alternative source of
funding.”

The Government recognised the importance of health services research in its
national health research strategy Best Research for Best Health, where one
of
the strategic goals is to commission research focused on improving health
and
care. The Cooksey review also highlighted the need for increased funding to
support research into the implementation of new products and approaches
into practice.

Professor Sally C. Davies, Director General of Research & Development at the
Department of Health said:

“All types of study designs appropriate to health services research will be
supported, which include both primary research and evidence syntheses. Our
early work with stakeholders has highlighted a number of key areas likely to
be
of interest to this new programme. These include cultural and organisational
issues around patient safety, making better use of existing research
knowledge through modelling, and the use of existing health data to improve
the planning and delivery of health services and systems.”

Notes to editors

1. The NIHR Health Services Research (HSR) programme will have two modes
of operation. It will mainly work in researcher-led ‘responsive’ mode, but
it may
also make calls for proposals in areas of particular interest, importance or
strategic need, to be approved by the programme’s board. Such commissioning
may address precise research questions or broader themed calls.

2. The HSR programme will use NIHR governance and management processes.
The programme will be led by a Programme Director, who will be responsible
to
the DH Director General of Research and Development via the NIHR Director of
Evaluation, Trials and Studies. There will be consistency between the
management of the programme and other NIHR programmes, with flexibility
where needed to meet the specific needs of the HSR programme. Further
details about the call for research proposals and the remit of the HSR
programme are available from www.hsr.nihr.ac.uk

3. The NIHR HSR programme will be managed alongside other NIHR programmes
by the NIHR Evaluation, Trials and Studies Co-ordinating Centre (NETSCC)
based at the University of Southampton. Further details about NETSCC and
the programmes it manages are available from www.netscc.ac.uk

4. The National Institute for Health Research provides the framework through
which the research staff and research infrastructure of the NHS in England
is
positioned, maintained and managed as a national research facility. The NIHR
provides the NHS with the support and infrastructure it needs to conduct
first-
class research funded by the Government and its partners alongside high-
quality patient care, education and training. Its aim is to support
outstanding
individuals (both leaders and collaborators), working in world class
facilities
(both NHS and university), conducting leading edge research focused on the
needs of patients. More information about the National Institute for Health
Research is available on its website at: http://www.nihr.ac.uk

5. The National Institute for Health Research's progress report
"Transforming
Health Research the first two years" can be downloaded from the NIHR
website at: http://www.nihr.ac.uk/about_progress_report.aspx

ENDS