The Department of Health and Social Care has published the National Institute for Health and Care Research’s annual accounts, as the research funder underlines impact, innovation, inclusion and investment in its highlights of 2023/24.
Throughout the last financial year, the NIHR spent £1.3bn on domestic research, which is around 4.2% more than during 2022/23.
Including overseas aid, the NIHR spent a total of £1.38bn – this was closer to £1.32bn last year.
Key facts
Some of the key facts and figures from the NIHR’s accounts include more than one million people taking part in NIHR-delivered research across the UK last year.
The total number of studies supported by NIHR infrastructure and research units was nearly 16,700.
Other highlights include:
- 1,918 – number of active research funding programme awards
- 4,835 – number of researchers with career development awards
- 6,074 – number of studies in England supported by the clinical research network
- 1,765 – number of commercial contract studies supported by the clinical research network in England
- 49 – number of low and middle-income countries with an active global health research funding award
“I want to thank everyone who has supported NIHR research over the last year and thereby made a difference to the health and wealth of our nation,” said Professor Lucy Chappell, CEO at the NIHR.
“This annual report spotlights where NIHR research has made a tangible difference to people’s health outcomes and has contributed to tackling health inequalities.”
She added that through its partnerships, the NIHR will continue to contribute towards the government health and growth mission to futureproof the health and care system.
NIHR and NHE
In 2024 alone, National Health Executive has helped highlight some of the NIHR’s innovation.
Dr Nathalie Kingston, director at the NIHR BioResource and Edmond Wood, communications manager for the bioresource authored an exclusive piece detailing the D-CYPHR programme which is aiming to address the lack of research involving children and young people.
Dr Kingston also explored the future of health research on the NHE podcast.
More recently, the deputy health and care director at the NIHR research delivery network, Professor Phil Evans, penned a piece detailing learnings from the PANORAMIC study – the largest trial globally into medication for Covid-19 in primary care.
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