New five-year, £15.3 million health and care research programme begins

A major health and care research programme for the north-east and Cumbria – supported by the University of Sunderland – has entered a new five‑year phase following a £15.3 million investment from the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR).

The NIHR Applied Research Collaboration (ARC) North East and North Cumbria (NENC) joins a network of Applied Research Collaborations (ARCs) funded across England. The ARCs will work together to support the transformation aims set out in the Government’s 10 Year Health Plan for England, by developing research evidence and driving forward innovations to address some of the UK’s most pressing health and social care challenges.

Hosted by Cumbria, Northumberland, Tyne and Wear (CNTW) NHS Foundation Trust, the NIHR ARC NENC is a partnership between the North East and North Cumbria’s six universities (Cumbria, Durham, Newcastle, Northumbria, Sunderland and Teesside), the North East and North Cumbria Integrated Care Board, health and social care providers, the Health Innovation Network NENC, and voluntary and community organisations.

This new round of funding will enable regional partners to build on work already delivered by the NIHR ARC NENC since 2019. This will include working nationally to scale-up successful work from our region and other regions to maximise impact and address health and social care priorities.

The ARC NENC programme will support people from a wide range of backgrounds to be involved in the development and delivery of health and care research that makes a real difference to people’s lives. This will include opportunities for health and care practitioners, patients, community groups and other public contributors.

The new programme will also increase research capacity in the north-east and North Cumbria region through funded PhD studentships, research fellowships and Masters degrees, alongside other research training and development opportunities.

New research themes to address key areas of need

This new phase of work will be delivered through five refreshed research themes, which have been carefully shaped to reflect national and local health and care priorities.

The five new research themes are:

• Prevention including multiple long-term conditions
• Addressing inequity in health and care systems
• Supporting children, women, and family health
• Workforce inclusion and innovation for impact
• Care improvement and safety

Professor Floor Christie-de Jong, Associate Professor in Public Health for Medicine at the University of Sunderland, will co-lead Prevention, including multiple long-term conditions research theme.

Professor Matthew Campbell, Co-Director of NORI – the Northern Ophthalmic Research and Innovation Institute, is part of the ARC NENC leadership team. He will be the lead for Health and Care Innovation to lead on developing stronger links with Business, Industry and Social Enterprise.

The NIHR ARC NENC will be Co-Directed by Professor Eileen Kaner, Professor of Public Health and Primary Care Research at Newcastle University, and Professor Ruth McGovern, Professor of Public Health and Social Care at Newcastle University. The wider leadership team includes senior representatives from all six partner universities.

Professor Eileen Kaner, Director of the NIHR ARC NENC, said: “This new phase of our Applied Research Collaboration marks an exciting new chapter for our region.

“Applied research is vital in helping health and care systems respond to the pressures they face, and we know that organisations involved in research can achieve better outcomes for the people they serve. Since 2019, we have worked to deliver meaningful research that promotes good health, prevents illness and supports better care.

“This new phase allows us to build on that foundation, working with our partners to co‑produce relevant and timely research, scale up innovations that work, and strengthen the use of evidence across services. Together we will continue to strive for better, fairer health and care for people of all ages and in all places.”

Some of the successes from the first round of funding for the NIHR ARC North East and North Cumbria, include:

Highlighting health inequalities: Highlighting the wide range of significant health inequalities faced by communities in our region, including for women and children, and developing recommendations for change. Evidence developed around this was presented to the UK COVID-19 Inquiry and has fed into recommendations for change.

Supporting primary care: Supporting GP practices serving some of the most disadvantaged communities in the North East. This has included schemes to improve identification of cardiovascular disease risk, supporting patients to reduce their reliance on opioid painkillers, and new ways of delivering community-based mental health support.

Tackling suicide and self-harm: Developing a new approach to prevent self-harm and suicide, through personalised safety planning.

Reducing the risk of unexpected infant death: Developing new training that helps staff including emergency services and local authority staff to spot where babies might be at risk of being placed in unsafe sleep situations.

Supporting the public to deliver CPR: Identifying why members of the public might be hesitant to deliver CPR and delivering training to improve awareness and confidence.

Supporting people living with dementia: Through new training to deliver better mealtimes for people in care homes, and research into how activities linked to football can improve mental wellbeing.

Read more about the work of the NIHR ARC North East and North Cumbria