Funding totalling £30.6million for the Collaboration for Leadership in Applied Health Research and Care West Midlands (CLAHRC West Midlands) has been awarded to an innovative partnership between local health services, universities, and local authorities.

The five-year funding comes from £10million from the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR), boosted by £20.6million from local health and social services.

Its research will focus on four crucial areas of health:

• Health for Mothers and Children

• Mental Health

• Care for Long Term Conditions

• The Prevention of Disease

CLAHRC West Midlands will be hosted by University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust (UHB) with the Universities of Birmingham, Warwick and Keele as academic partners.

Professor Peter Winstanley, Dean of Warwick Medical School, said "We see our participation in the CLAHRC as a major opportunity to bring advances in healthcare into practice within the West Midlands"

As a department of the University of Warwick, Warwick Business School will receive £1.25million of the NIHR funding to support a research programme on 'Implementation Science & Organisation Studies' concerned with improving the health of patients with long-term conditions. The programme is to be led by Graeme Currie, Professor of Public Management.

Professor Currie comments, “This is excellent news for all users of the NHS in the West Midlands. The research we carry out at Warwick Business School will enable us to find ways of improving care and planning for patients with long-term conditions, which in turn will not only improve their lives as individuals but help to ensure the NHS makes the best possible use of its expertise, treatment and resources.”

The news comes as part of the Department of Health’s announcement of the awarding of funds across the country.

Professor Dame Sally C. Davies, Chief Medical Officer and Chief Scientific Advisor at the Department of Health, explained, “Supporting our leading researchers is so important and these NIHR CLAHRCs will link the NHS, universities, and other relevant organisations providing care for patients in what will be ground-breaking work to improve the lives of thousands of patients across the country.”

Further information

For further information or to arrange interviews, contact Luke Harrison, Communications Manager on +44 (0)2476 574255/150483, m: +44(0)7920 531221 or luke.harrison@warwick.ac.uk.