09.08.13
CLAHRC launched to boost healthcare research
Researchers in South London have been awarded £18m to tackle health challenges in the area. The National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Collaboration for Applied Health Research and Care (CLAHRC) is launched with £9m from the DH, to be match-funded by local partners over five years.
The CLAHRC brings together King’s Health Partners with St George’s Healthcare NHS Trust and St George’s University of London.
The funding will help patients benefit from new treatments for chronic disease and reduce alcohol-related harm, establish educational programmes and a new Centre for Implementation Science to support research in nine areas.
These are: alcohol, diabetes, infection, palliative care, psychosis, public health, stroke, women’s health, and patient and public involvement.
Organisations within the CLAHRC will work industry partners, including pharmaceutical companies, to test innovative new treatments. The CLAHRC is one of 13 announced by the DH, sharing £124m funding to address long term conditions and public health challenges.
Professor Graham Thornicroft, director of the NIHR CLAHRC South London and Professor of Community Psychiatry at the Institute of Psychiatry, King’s College London said: “The key role of the CLAHRC is to provide support, through proper research, for implementation of new ideas and innovations in the NHS. The nine focus areas have been chosen to target the health needs of people in south London and we hope to see real results.
“We are working in partnership with our local Academic Health Sciences Network (AHSN) in south London – with its membership across different sectors, its involvement is crucial in helping to deliver and spread innovation and good practice, directly informed by the research findings of the CLAHRC.”
Health minister Lord Howe said: “This is great news for patients – this funding could potentially help the development of ground breaking treatments which could revolutionise care. With a growing elderly population, the need for innovative and effective solutions has never been more important.
“We want the UK to lead the world in terms of health research and this announcement underlines that commitment.
“It is vital that we invest in health research, not only to create the opportunities for health research to grow – but also to help our economy thrive so we can compete in the global race.”
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