UHSussex hospitals are to benefit from over £1.3 million in extra government funding for better facilities and equipment to enable more patients access to clinical research trials aimed at improving care and treatments for people now, and in the future.
The funding, secured by University Hospitals Sussex NHS Foundation Trust from the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR), is set to expand and improve clinical research facilities over the next two years at Royal Sussex County Hospital in Brighton, Princess Royal Hospital in Hayward’s Heath and Worthing Hospital.
The funding will support the development of upgraded research spaces and help the Trust deliver a wider range of clinical trials – including more advanced, larger and early phase studies – while improving access to participation in those trials for patients across Sussex.
This investment will also help grow the Trust’s research portfolio by broadening the range of clinical trials that are available to patients across our medical and surgical specialties, both within our hospitals and community settings. The new facilities will enable us to grow new industry collaborations and partnerships with life sciences organisations, while improving opportunities for people in local communities to take part in research.
UHSussex has already hosted a wide range of clinical studies that are improving patient care and treatment options through its research facilities, such as the POPPY study, a major HIV research project with more than 1,300 participants.
Maternity research is also a key research area for the Trust, including the Generation Study. Through this national research programme, the UHSussex Maternity Research Team has enabled more than 1,000 participants to take part in research exploring how genome sequencing can be used to screen newborn babies for a wide range of rare conditions. Once identified, these rare conditions can then be treated, often much earlier than could otherwise be the case, which can improve health outcomes and quality of life.
Having improved dedicated research space will enable more crucial research and treatment options to be offered to local people across our hospitals.
The mainstay of the investment will enable the Trust to relocate and enhance its main research facility at the Royal Sussex County Hospital in Brighton. The new facility, which will be located in the hospital’s Louisa Martindale Building, will provide 180m² of patient-facing space for research participation and will be located closer to key acute services, such as the Emergency Department and critical care. This will allow researchers to safely deliver larger and more complex trials, including early phase and first-in-human studies, which require closer clinical monitoring.
Alongside the central research facility in Brighton, the funding will support the development of research bases at Princess Royal Hospital and Worthing Hospital. These sites will help bring research opportunities closer to local communities, allowing more patients across Sussex to take part in clinical trials without needing to travel long distances.
The research base at Princess Royal Hospital will also support the delivery of specialist research including mental and dementia studies as part of our NIHR Commercial Research Delivery Centre (CRDC) Sussex, in partnership with Sussex Healthcare NHS Partnership Trust.
Professor Martin Llewelyn, Clinical Director of Research and Innovation at University Hospitals Sussex and Director of the NIHR CRDC Sussex, said:
We are delighted to receive this funding from the NIHR, which will help us strengthen and expand research across University Hospitals Sussex. Research is central to our ambition to deliver excellent care everywhere, improving care and treatment options for our patients, helping our staff develop new skills and expertise, and ensuring people across Sussex benefit from the latest advances in medicine. This investment is strategically important for University Hospitals Sussex because it will strengthen our research infrastructure and help us grow both our research portfolio and our partnerships with life sciences organisations via our NIHR CRDC Sussex – enhancing access to ground-breaking research through our hospitals and across community settings.
“By expanding and relocating our research facilities, particularly in Brighton where the new facility will sit close to emergency and specialist services, we will be better placed to deliver more advanced studies including early phase clinical trials. At the same time, developing research bases in Haywards Heath and Worthing will help widen access to research across Sussex, ensuring more patients and communities have the opportunity to take part in studies that could shape the future of healthcare.”
This funding forms part of a £47.8 million national investment from the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR), which is supporting 51 NHS trusts and 79 primary care organisations across England to strengthen their ability to deliver high-quality commercial research.
Commenting on the national investment, Dr Janet Valentine, Executive Director of Innovation and Research Policy at the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry, said:
Access to the right equipment across the NHS is essential to ensure that industry-sponsored clinical trials can run efficiently and that more patients have the opportunity to take part in studies of the latest treatments. This welcome new investment through the NIHR and the pharmaceutical industry’s VPAG Investment Programme will help address equipment shortages that can create bottlenecks in hospital-based research.
“Funding for research equipment in primary care will also expand the ability of GP practices and community providers to offer research opportunities closer to where people live. Importantly, investment in mobile research units will help extend the reach of clinical trials into underserved communities, ensuring more people can benefit from taking part in research.”