Department of Health and Social Care
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Government gives £45m for research into mental health and underfunded areas

Government gives £45m for research into mental health and underfunded areas

DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH News Release (2007/0083) issued by The Government News Network on 11 April 2007

The Department of Health today announced £45m in funding for 29 important and substantial research programmes as part of the National Institute for Health Research into areas such as mental health, medicines for children, diabetes, stroke, and dementias, neurodegenerative diseases and neurology. The programmes of research aim to increase understanding of how to manage and treat these types of diseases more effectively, develop new treatments and help prevent ill health developing in the first place.

This new government funding will improve health outcomes for patients in England with particular emphasis on conditions that cause chronic distress to patients and that are a significant issue for the NHS to manage. It will also enable NHS trusts to tackle areas of high priority for patients.

Health Minister Rosie Winterton said:

"This significant new research funding stream, which will be worth up to £75 million each year when fully established, provides a marvellous opportunity for the NHS to carry out research that will lead to improved health care or better health care delivery in the near future. The first awards focus on developing medicines specifically for children, and research into diabetes, stroke, mental health, dementias and other neurodegenerative diseases, all of which are health areas that are central to the government's key concerns."

The 29 research programmes include one that looks to increase equity of access to high quality mental health services in primary care, management of challenging behaviour in dementia at home and in care homes and improve physical health in people with severe mental illness.

Programme Grants for Applied Research are prestigious awards supporting teams of leading researchers, from the NHS and academia working together, who have already demonstrated an impressive track-record of achievement in applied health research. They will support work directed towards delivering research findings that have practical application for the benefit of patients. These looked for benefits would be through improved health care or better health care delivery, within a 3-5 year time scale.

The projects will provide stability of funding to support the long-term development of top quality applied research groups working in the NHS.

Notes to editors

1. One of the key strands of the Government's new R&D Strategy, Best Research for Best Health is the establishment of a Programme Grants for Applied Research funding stream to support applied health research addressing the priorities and needs of the NHS. More information about Best Research for Best Health can be found on the Department of Health website at: http://www.dh.gov.uk/en/Publicationsandstatistics/Publications/PublicationsPolicyAndGuidance/DH_4127127

2. The National Institute for Health Research is the key mechanism through which the Department of Health is delivering 'Best Research for Best Health'. More information about the National Institute for Health Research is available on its website at: http://www.nihr.ac.uk

3. The aims of the National Institute for Health Research Programme Grants for Applied Research funding scheme are to:

- Provide evidence to improve health outcomes in England through promotion of health, prevention of ill health, and optimal disease management (including safety and quality), with particular emphasis on conditions causing significant disease burden, where other research funders may not be focused, or there is insufficient funding available;

- Enable NHS trusts to tackle areas of high priority or need for health;

- Provide some stability of funding to support the long-term development of top quality applied research groups working in the NHS; and

- Replace, in part, programmes of research currently supported by the Priorities and Needs (PNF) component of NHS R&D Support Funding for NHS Providers.

List of NIHR Programme Grants for Applied Research Awards

Lead Researcher      Programme Title        P.I. Institution
      (P.I)
      Professor Stephanie  Non-pharmacological    King's College Hospital
      Amiel                approaches to          and King's College
                           improving diabetes     London School of
                           outcomes               Medicine
      Professor Thomas     Coercion in mental     Department of
      Burns                health. Patterns and   Psychiatry, University
                           prevalence of coercion of Oxford
                           in mental health care
                           and a trial of the
                           effectiveness and
                           costs of Supervised
                           Community Treatment
                           orders
      Professor David      National Trends and    University of Manchester
      Challis              Local Delivery in Old
                           Age Mental Health
                           Services: Towards an
                           evidence-base
      Professor Melanie    A community based      University of
      Davies               primary prevention     Leicester/University
                           programme for Type 2   Hospitals of Leicester
                           Diabetes integrating   NHS Trust
                           identification,
                           lifestyle intervention
                           and community services
                           for prevention
      Professor            A R&D programme to     University Hospital
      Christopher Dowrick  increase equity of     Aintree
                           access to high quality
                           mental health services
                           in primary care
      Professor Gary Ford  Development and        Newcastle upon Tyne
                           evaluation of          Hospitals NHS Foundation
                           hyperacute services    Trust and Newcastle
                           for patients with      University
                           acute stroke
      Dr Anne Forster      Improving patient and  Bradford Teaching
                           carer centred outcomes Hospitals NHS Foundation
                           in longer-term stroke  Trust
                           care.
      Dr Simon Griffin     Reducing the burden of MRC Epidemiology Unit,
                           type 2 diabetes:       Cambridge
                           translating
                           epidemiology and
                           behavioural science
                           into preventive action
      Professor David      A multi-centre         North Bristol NHS
      Gunnell              programme of clinical  Trust/University of
                           and epidemiological    Bristol
                           research in support of
                           the National Suicide
                           Prevention Strategy
                           for England.
      Dr Simon Heller      Improving management   Sheffield Teaching
                           of Type 1 diabetes in  Hospitals Foundation
                           the UK: the DAFNE      Trust
                           programme as a
                           research test-bed
      Dr Steve Iliffe      Changing practice in   Royal Free & UCL Medical
                           dementia care in the   School
                           community: developing
                           and testing
                           evidence-based
                           interventions, from
                           timely diagnosis to
                           end of life.
      Professor Peter      Understanding Causes   Addenbrooke's Hospital,
      Jones                and Developing         Cambridge
                           Effective
                           Interventions For
                           Schizophrenia and
                           Other Psychoses
      Dr Jonathan Mant     Stroke Prevention      Dept of Primary Care &
                           Programme              General Practice,
                                                  University of Birmingham
      Professor Max        Early phase treatment  University of
      Marshall             for the prevention of  Manchester/Lancashire
                           relapse in first       Care NHS Trust
                           episode schizophrenia.
      Dr Anthony Marson    Defining priorities    The Walton Centre for
                           and communicating      Neurology and
                           evidence about benefit Neurosurgery. Liverpool
                           and harm of
                           interventions for
                           people with epilepsy:
                           Putting evidence into
                           practice
      Professor Esme       Management of          Humber Mental Health
      Moniz-Cook           Challenging Behaviour  Teaching NHS
                           in dementia at home    Trust/University of Hull
                           and in care homes
      Professor Anthony    Psychological          Psychology Services,
      Morrison             approaches to          Bolton, Salford &
                           understanding and      Trafford Mental Health
                           promoting recovery     NHS Trust
                           from psychosis
      Professor Declan     Crossing the divide.   Institute of Psychiatry
      Murphy               Effective treatments
                           for people with
                           neurodevelopmental
                           disorders across the
                           lifespan and
                           intellectual ability
      Professor Robin      Improving Physical     Institute of Psychiatry
      Murray               Health and Decreasing
                           Cannabis Abuse in
                           People With Severe
                           Mental Illness
      Professor Martin     Support at Home -      University College
      Orrell               Interventions to       London
                           Enhance Life in
                           Dementia (SHIELD)
      Professor Peter      Improving Stroke       Oxford Radcliffe
      Rothwell             Prevention in Routine  Hospitals NHS Trust
                           Clinical Practice:
                           Phase 2 of the Oxford
                           Vascular Study
                           (OXVASC) Programme
      Dr Mike Sampson      Delivering the         Norfolk & Norwich
                           Diabetes Prevention    University Hospital NHS
                           Programme in a UK      Trust
                           community setting
      Dr. Ulrike Schmidt   Treatment of Anorexia  Institute of Psychiatry
                           nervosa: Translating
                           experimental
                           neuroscience into
                           clinical practice.
      Professor Swaran     Ethnicity, Detention   University of Warwick
      Singh                and Early
                           Intervention: Reducing
                           Inequalities and
                           Improving outcomes for
                           Black and Ethnic
                           Minority (BME)                      Patients
      Professor Rosalind   Adverse Drug Reactions University of Liverpool
      Smyth                in Children and                      Neonates
      Professor Graham     Improving Mental       South London & Maudsley
      Thornicroft          Health Outcomes by     NHS Trust / Institute of
                           Reducing Stigma and    Psychiatry, King's
                           Discrimination         College London
      Professor Andre      A programme of         Institute of Psychiatry
      Tylee                research to develop    and South London and
                           and test stepped care  Maudsley Trust
                           for patients with
                           depression and
                           physical illness in
                           primary care
      Professor Caroline   Ensuring Immediate     University of Central
      Watkins              Access to Emergency    Lancashire
                           Stroke Pathways
      Professor Til Wykes  Patient involvement in Institute of Psychiatry
                           improving the evidence and South London and
                           base                   Maudsley Trust 


A number of these awards are dependent upon amendments being made by the applicants and all are conditional upon the successful completion of contractual negotiations.

[ENDS]

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