Investment in Nottingham means life-changing new technology for people recovering after serious injury
A multi-million pound investment for Nottingham in life-changing technology for people recovering from serious injuries has been announced by the National Institute for Health & Care Research (NIHR) today.
By Dave Rogers | Published on 14 November 2023
Categories: Press office; Research; School of Science and Technology;
Clinicians, researchers and industry partners from Nottingham and the East Midlands will receive over £2.8 million as part of the NIHR’s almost £42 million of government funding to establish 14 new national centres that will drive life-changing research into health technologies.
From 1 April 2024, the Rehab HealthTech Research Centre (HRC) will bring together experts from Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust; the universities of Nottingham, Nottingham Trent and Loughborough; and the new National Rehabilitation Centre to work with businesses to support the development of medical devices, diagnostics and digital technologies to improve recovery after injury.
Professor Dan Clarke, Head of Clinical Engineering at Nottingham University Hospitals and a member of the team who led the Rehab HRC bid, welcomed the announcement:
“At some point in our lives, one in three of us will suffer potentially life-changing injury, trauma or illness that requires rehabilitation. Medical advances have significantly improved survival rates after major injury and illness. However, these life-saving advances have not been matched by the same improvement in rehabilitation to ensure recovery towards good quality of life. For many patients their ongoing needs are currently unmet.
“We are now delighted to be able to address the challenge of this unmet need with the new NIHR funded Rehab HealthTech Research Centre. Embedded in the National Rehabilitation Centre (NRC), the HRC will extend its scope to include all settings: acute, primary care, residential and social care.”
The new Centre will focus on specialist rehabilitation technology to accelerate the journey for patients to enable them to return to their lives after experiencing major trauma or serious illness. Patients will benefit from being able to access the latest, most innovative technology to support their rehabilitation, not only here in the East Midlands but across the whole of the UK.
Former Health and Social Care Secretary Steve Barclay said: “These centres will help bring the latest advances in medical technology into patients’ lives sooner improving care, treatment and diagnosis including for those with cancer, dementia and brain injuries.
“We are already seeing the benefits of previous investment in health technologies - such as using artificial intelligence to predict how different patients respond to medication for inflammatory bowel disease meaning the right treatment is provided to patients sooner.
“I look forward to seeing what our world leading scientists, clinicians and inventors bring forward next.”
Professor Richard Emes, Pro Vice-Chancellor for Research and Innovation at Nottingham Trent University said: “This important project further recognises the strength of research into rehabilitation, medical devices and digital technology for health in the region.
"The HealthTech Research Centre will help to bring increased opportunities to NTU and partner researchers and will allow the university to continue to build on its commitment to work together to deliver on unmet medical needs.”
Professor Lucy Chappell, Chief Scientific Adviser to the Department of Health and Social Care and CEO of the NIHR, said: “Research into health technology is recognised as being of vital importance for patients, carers and users, our workforce, and the wider health and care system.
“The establishment of the NIHR Healthtech Research Centres shows our firm commitment to driving innovation in healthtech research from conception through to adoption.
“Our existing research centres in MedTech have delivered new technologies that have helped prevent, diagnose and treat ill health for many individuals, as well as ensuring increased efficiencies in the health and care system.
“The increased funding for the HealthTech Research Centres will build capacity and expertise in health technologies, bring new innovations to market and enable people to live healthier, better-quality lives.”
Notes for Editors
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Nottingham Trent University (NTU) received the Queen’s Anniversary Prize for Higher and Further Education in 2021 for cultural heritage science research. It is the second time that NTU has been bestowed the honour of receiving a Queen’s Anniversary Prize for its research, the first being in 2015 for leading-edge research on the safety and security of global citizens.
The Research Excellence Framework (2021) classed 83% of NTU’s research activity as either world-leading or internationally excellent. 86% of NTU’s research impact was assessed to be either world-leading or internationally excellent.
NTU was awarded The Times and The Sunday Times Modern University of the Year 2023 and ranked University of the Year in the Whatuni Student Choice Awards 2023. It was awarded Outstanding Support for Students 2020 (Times Higher Education Awards), University of the Year 2019 (Guardian University Awards, UK Social Mobility Awards), Modern University of the Year 2018 (Times and Sunday Times Good University Guide) and University of the Year 2017 (Times Higher Education Awards).
NTU is the 5th largest UK institution by student numbers, with approximately 40,000 students and more than 4,400 staff located across five campuses. It has an international student population of 7,000 and an NTU community representing over 160 countries.
Since 2000, NTU has invested £570 million in tools, technology, buildings and facilities.
NTU is in the UK’s top 10 for number of applications and ranked first for accepted offers (2021 UCAS UG acceptance data). It is also among the UK’s top five recruiters of students from disadvantaged backgrounds and was the first UK university to sign the Social Mobility Pledge.
NTU is ranked the second most sustainable university in the world in the 2022 UI Green Metric University World Rankings (out of more than 900 participating universities).
The National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR)
The mission of the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) is to improve the health and wealth of the nation through research. We do this by:
- Funding high quality, timely research that benefits the NHS, public health and social care;
- Investing in world-class expertise, facilities and a skilled delivery workforce to translate discoveries into improved treatments and services;
- Partnering with patients, service users, carers and communities, improving the relevance, quality and impact of our research;
- Attracting, training and supporting the best researchers to tackle complex health and social care challenges;
- Collaborating with other public funders, charities and industry to help shape a cohesive and globally competitive research system;
- Funding applied global health research and training to meet the needs of the poorest people in low and middle income countries.
NIHR is funded by the Department of Health and Social Care. Its work in low and middle income countries is principally funded through UK Aid from the UK government.