NHS to fund more clinical trials

News release from the National Coordinating Centre for Health Technology Assessment

15 March 2006

One of the first signs of the new NHS strategy Best Research for Best Health is a programme of clinical trials, launched on Wednesday 15 March by the NHS Health Technology Assessment (HTA) programme. The new programme will fund clinical trials to assess the effectiveness of technologies within the NHS, with a focus on clinical decision-making. Researchers are being invited to submit proposals for pragmatic clinical trials of the sort already funded by the programme, but on topics proposed by the researchers.

The programme will be part of the new National Institute for Health Research (NIHR), which will seek to establish the UK as a world-leader in health research, providing the NHS with the support and infrastructure it needs to conduct first-class research alongside high-quality patient care.

"The clinical trials programme will fund research with outcomes that matter to patients," says Tom Walley, HTA programme director. "Pragmatic trials test whether an intervention is effective in clinical practice, balancing relevance of results in real life with reliability and accuracy in academic terms. Participants reflect the population for whom the treatment is intended and exclusion criteria are kept to a minimum, so the findings of these trials will translate directly into benefit for many patients."

Notes:

  1. The HTA programme intends to commission pragmatic clinical trials on an ongoing basis. Proposal forms will be available for download from the HTA website at any time. Submission deadlines and board meeting dates will be advertised and proposals submitted by the specified deadline will be considered at the next appropriate board. Outline proposals for research are initially invited for consideration in June 2006. Proposals will need to reach the NCCHTA offices by 1pm on Thursday 27 April to be considered. For more details visit our funding opportunities page.

Notes for editors


  1. The HTA programme is a programme of the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) and produces high quality research information about the effectiveness, costs, and broader impact of health technologies for those who use, manage and provide care in the NHS. It is the largest of the NIHR programmes and publishes the results of its research in the Health Technology Assessment journal, with more than 400 issues published to date. The journal’s 2007 Impact Factor (3.87) ranked it in the top 10 per cent of medical and health-related journals. All issues are available for download free of charge from the website, www.hta.ac.uk The HTA programme is coordinated by the National Coordinating Centre for Health Technology Assessment (NCCHTA), based at the University of Southampton.
  2. The National Institute for Health Research provides the framework through which the research staff and research infrastructure of the NHS in England is positioned, maintained and managed as a national research facility.  The NIHR provides the NHS with the support and infrastructure it needs to conduct first-class research funded by the Government and its partners alongside high-quality patient care, education and training.  Its aim is to support outstanding individuals (both leaders and collaborators), working in world class facilities (both NHS and university), conducting leading edge research focused on the needs of patients. www.nihr.ac.uk

Contact details

Naomi Stockley, Programme Manager (Communications)
Telephone: 02380 595 646, Email: ns5@soton.ac.uk

Helen Nikandrou, Assistant Programme Manager (Communications)
Telephone: 02380 595 584, Email: h.nikandrou@soton.ac.uk

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