£6.7m NIHR funding secured for patient safety research

A £6.7 million financial boost has been awarded to Salford Royal NHS Foundation Trust (SRFT) to create a city-wide early translational patient safety research programme, along with its fellow MAHSC partner, The University of Manchester.

Provided under the NIHR Patient Safety Translational Research Centres (PSTRC) Scheme, this latest award by the Department of Health will be used to fund cutting-edge research by the NIHR Patient Safety Translational Research Centre Greater Manchester (Greater Manchester PSTRC) for a further five years.

The winning bid was coordinated by the Manchester Academic Health Science Centre (MAHSC), demonstrating the benefits of bringing together clinical and research expertise from across healthcare and academia to deliver both patient safety and patient-orientated, translational research.

The new funding will enable Greater Manchester PSTRC to continue innovative research into patient safety in primary care and across transitional care settings on important issues such as informatics, medication safety and safer care for marginalised groups.

The award builds on the earlier £28.5m investment in Manchester’s Biomedical Research Centre (BRC) scheme and the £12.5m investment provided under the NIHR Clinical Research Facility (CRF) scheme, both of which were announced towards the end of last year.

Greater Manchester PSTRC is a partnership between SRFT and the University of Manchester. It also has strong links with the University of Nottingham, Central Manchester University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (CMFT) and The Christie NHS Foundation Trust (The Christie).

This welcome funding boost is as a result of the joined up approach to health care research and services that is a major strength of the Greater Manchester region. As a result of working across agencies and forming strong partnerships we can deliver projects like this which ultimately benefit the health of people in the region and further afield

Professor Ian Greer, Vice-President and Dean of the Faculty of Biology, Medicine and Health

Stephen Campbell, who is Director of the PSTRC and Professor of Primary Care Research in the Faculty’s Division of Population Health, Health Services Research and Primary Care said: “We are delighted to receive this investment, which will enable us to build on the world-leading research infrastructure we already have in here in Manchester.

“It will be a multi-sector partnership and future facing, aiming to focus not just on patient safety retrospectively, but also ways of predicting and preventing patient safety incidents in primary care and in transitional settings. It will help us create a world leading learning health system that will improve safety and reduce costs.”

Patient safety is at the heart of everything we do. We are committed to ensuring that every patient receives safe, clean and personal care and our work with the Greater Manchester Primary Care Patient Safety Translational Research Centre contributes greatly to that. This investment will enable us to carry out further work across our integrated healthcare systems.

Chris Brookes, Executive Medical Director at Salford Royal Hospital

Public Health and Innovation Minister, Nicola Blackwood said: “Manchester has huge potential to shape global medical research and this Government is backing this talent by investing heavily in their medical research capabilities. We hope this will improve the lives of people in Manchester and, in fact, people across England.

“We want every patient to receive the best and safest NHS treatment and care as possible. Investing today in research to improve patient safety is essential for making the NHS the best today, and for tackling the challenges of tomorrow. Manchester is one of the leading places in the UK for cutting edge health research and our investments through the NIHR will help our researchers strive for global excellence.”