UK issues £45m funding call for research partnerships

The UK's National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) has revealed the first round of funding for an initiative that aims to bridge the gap between early-stage medical discoveries and clinical adoption.

A call has gone out today for applications for the first tranche of £45 million in funding set aside for Strategic Infrastructure Partnerships (SIPs), a £260 million programme announced earlier this year alongside a £600 million drive to expand the network of biomedical research centres (BRCs) across the UK.

One objective of the scheme is to ensure that BRCs and other parts of the UK's research network, including life sciences companies, can work together on large-scale, complex health challenges.

The first funding round was announced this morning and is focused on projects that can support the shift in healthcare from hospital to community settings, one of the pillars of the government's 10-Year Plan for the NHS. Recipients of the awards can receive between £6 million and £15 million in financial support over three to five years.

In its call, the NIHR is inviting applications in two areas: technologies that can help people live well and independently at home; and initiatives that can reduce demand across urgent, emergency, and primary care services.

The two projects are linked. Emergency care demand in the UK is currently at near-record highs, driven by poor patient flow, staffing shortages and, crucially, difficulties accessing care in the community, according to NHS waiting-list figures from the British Medical Association (BMA).

Overall, the aim is to accelerate the translation of research into life-changing improvements for patients, communities, and the health and care system with projects that can deliver change on a national scale.

"We cannot solve the biggest challenges facing our health and care system through any one organisation working alone. We will always be stronger when we bring together the expertise, ideas, and experience that exist across our NHS, the research community, industry, and local communities," said James Frith, the UK Minister for Health Innovation.

"These new Strategic Infrastructure Partnerships will help us do exactly that – tackling challenges both locally and at a national scale, and turning the very best research and innovation projects into practical improvements for patients and communities across the country."

Bidding opportunities for further SIPs will emerge after September 2027, once the next cycle of BRC designations is finalised.

UK needs shake-up of workplace health system

Meanwhile, plans have also been drawn up to deliver the UK's first Workplace Health System, designed to prevent some of the 300,000 cases of people living with a health condition leaving work every year.

Earlier and better support for people with health conditions or disabilities in the workplace is key to driving growth and productivity, according to a new report published today by Sir Charlie Mayfield, the co-chair of Keep Britain Working. The new plan aims to build better workplace health provision to prevent health conditions from escalating and to get back into work after absences.

Since 2019, the number of working-age people out of work due to ill health has risen by 800,000, with a total cost to the economy of around £212 billion a year, according to Mayfield. His report has found that someone absent from work for four to six weeks has a 96% chance of returning, while after a year fewer than half do.

"Britain has spent too long treating economic inactivity as a welfare problem. It is not. Instead, it's one of the largest and most attainable growth opportunities this country has," he said. "The new Workplace Health System would change that. The task now is to build it."