DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH
News Release issued by COI News Distribution Service. 9 March 2009
Health Secretary
Alan Johnson today announced the successful Academic Health
Science Centres (AHSCs) following peer review by an international
panel of experts.
The centres, partnerships between world-class Universities and
leading NHS organisations, have been recognised as having the
potential to compete globally with established centres such as
those in the United States, Canada, Singapore, Sweden and the Netherlands.
The centres will be well-placed to compete on the world stage for
talent and funding, drawing in economic benefits for the UK as a
whole. The selection process was carried out by a panel of
internationally renowned clinicians and researchers.
The award of AHSC status will enable the centres to speed up the
process of taking research breakthroughs into NHS patient care -
the aim is to improve treatments and promote in the NHS and across
the world. Universities and NHS organisations will work together
to deliver world-class research, education and patient care for
the benefit of their local communities, then promote the
application of their discoveries in the NHS and across the world.
Alan Johnson said:
"I congratulate the successful candidates, who have
demonstrated their enthusiasm and commitment to the vision of
bringing together world-class research, teaching and patient care
to improve health in local communities as well as internationally
through their global reach. NHS patients will reap the benefits
of the work of these new centres.
"In times of economic uncertainty it is even more important
that we continue to support this country's knowledge
industries to ensure that we benefit from the competitive edge
which they provide."
Panel member Victor Dzau, Chancellor for Health Affairs of Duke
University, and CEO of Duke University Health System, said:
"I would like to thank all the applicants for the time and
effort they have put into this process. I have been studying the
issue of how academic health sciences centres can play a role in
the transformation of healthcare for a number of years and
I'm sure that many of the applications we reviewed will
contribute to this transformation.
"The centres which are being designated today are the
exemplars of partnership and innovation and I know they will all
contribute to the vision outlined in High Quality Care for All and
help to enable global competitiveness here in the UK."
The successful centres named today are:
* Cambridge University Health Partners
* Imperial
College
* King's Health Partners
* Manchester
AHSC
* UCL Partners
Designation is for 5 years and the successful centres will be
subject to review. The Secretary of State has decided that there
will be a re-application process.
The centres are delivering on the commitment set out in Lord
Darzi's strategy for the future of the NHS, High Quality Care
for All. They will speed up the time it takes the NHS to access
new and better quality treatments and approaches to improving
health because of the unique partnerships between the work of top
quality researchers and NHS staff working at the front line
delivering patient care.
NOTES TO EDITORS:
Any further media enquiries should be directed to the DH Newsdesk
on 020 7210 5221.
The criteria for designation as an Academic Health Science
Centre, established by the Department of Health, required
applicants to meet a high standard. The international panel for
designation was clear that continuing to get the basics right is
essential for the ongoing credibility of the AHSC. The SofS
requires partnerships designated as AHSCs to continue to meet the
designation criteria and to comply with the existing regulatory,
performance and monitoring regimes. He also reserves the right
to suspend or remove designation.
Panel membership was as follows:
* Professor Sir Ian Kennedy Chairman, Healthcare Commission, London
* Professor Hans Buller President, Erasmus Medical Centre, Netherlands
* Prof Paul Shekelle Director, Southern California Evidence-Based
Practice Center, RAND Corporation; Associate Professor of
Medicine, School of Medicine, University of California, Los
Angeles, USA
* Dr Victor Dzau Chancellor for Health Affairs, Duke Medical
Centre, USA
* Prof Jan Carlstedt-Duke Professor in Molecular Endocrinology,
Karolinska Institute, Sweden
* Mr Jeff Lozon President & CEO, St Michael's Hospital,
Toronto, Canada
* Prof Ed Holmes Distinguished Professor, UC San Diego; Vice
Chancellor/Dean Emeritus of Health Sciences, UC San Diego;
Chairman, National Medical Research Council, Singapore; Deputy
Chairman, Biomedical Research Council, Singapore
* Prof Tony MBewu President, Medical Research Council of South Africa
* Dr Bob Goldstein Chief Scientific Officer, Juvenile Diabetes
Research Foundation, New York, USA
* Prof Peter Brooks Executive Dean, Faculty of Health Sciences,
University of Queensland, Australia