The National Institute for Health Research Applied Research Collaborations (NIHR ARCs) have secured £13.125 million to develop key research programmes over the next three years.

The NIHR, the nation’s largest funder of health and care research, invited proposals from the 15 newly formed NIHR ARCs to lead applied research in national priority areas to help solve the most pressing issues facing health and social care today. ARCs are collaborations between universities, health and social care providers, commissioners, charities and local authorities.

Successful ARCs have been awarded £1.875 million to lead a consortium of ARCs working with patients and service users to develop better...

More than 90 per cent of shoulder replacement implants last more than ten years, according to the largest study of its kind.

The study, led by the University of Exeter and NIHR PenARC and published in The Lancet Rheumatology examined data on nearly 18,000 people who have had shoulder replacements, an increasingly common procedure.

The study found that at ten years, more than 90 per cent of shoulder replacements were still working well, and that patients continued to report that the operation had benefitted them.

Jon Evans, Orthopaedic Registrar and NIHR Clinical Lecturer at the University of Exeter Medical School, who led the...

PenARC and colleagues from ARC Yorkshire and Humber have been awarded £1.85 million from the National Institute of Health Research (NIHR) to lead a national collaboration to develop a research programme in Children’s Health and Maternity.

The aim of the funding is to use evidence to improve health outcomes in childhood and maternal health across the country, working with service users, charities and professional groups to identify key areas where evidence can help to improve public health and services in health and social care. 

PenARC Director Professor Stuart Logan said:

 “I am delighted to be part of this successful collaboration, which will be tackling some...

Domestic violence and abuse is devastating and impacts the whole family, not just the person who is the focus of the abuse. But children can often be hidden victims or fail to get appropriate support. Research shows that only half of children affected by domestic violence and abuse are known to social services and only 42 per cent receive support from a specialist abuse service. The National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) in the South West is driving forward ground-breaking research to understand the experiences and needs of children affected by domestic violence and abuse and looking at innovative ways...

Pioneering work by Professor Martin James, a senior NHS clinician for stroke services in Exeter and a team of researchers at the University of Exeter Medical School, including PenCLAHRC’s operational research team, PenCHORD, has been incorporated in proposals to improve stroke care for patients in Northern Ireland.

Every year, there are almost 3,000 stroke-related hospital admissions in Northern Ireland and more than 1,000 people die from stroke. Stroke services in Northern Ireland, as with other parts of the UK, struggle to meet national standards in a number of areas.

NHS Guidelines in England recommend that when reconfiguring stroke services, patients should ideally...

A new rehabilitation programme, which helps heart failure patients achieve better quality of life from the comfort of their own homes will now be rolled out at four NHS centres across the UK.

Collaboration for Leadership in Applied Health Research and Care South West Peninsular
(PenCLAHRC) supported Research has found that the Rehabilitation Enablement in CHronic Heart Failure (REACH-HF) programme, developed by a collaboration led by the University of Exeter and the Royal Cornwall Hospitals NHS trust, significantly improved quality of life. Rehabilitation is also linked to better health outcomes for patients. Last month, a new study concluded that the Reach-HF programme is...

The health and wellbeing of parent carers is often overlooked. But now, with a funding boost of nearly £40,000 from the National Lottery Community Fund, a peer-led support programme for parents of disabled children in communities across the southwest is set to be further extended.

The Healthy Parent Carers programme for parent carers of disabled children (aged up to 25 years) provides information about small steps that can be taken every day to improve health and wellbeing using the acronym CLANGERS (Connect, Learn, be Active, Notice, Give, Eat well, Relax and Sleep). Parents are invited to take part in NHS-funded research, led by...

Despite the proven effectiveness of cardiac rehabilitation programmes in reducing readmissions and risk of death from heart disease, attendance varies widely across the UK and is generally poor. An NIHR-funded trial involving researchers from PenCLAHRC has found that home-based rehabilitation for people with heart failure improves quality of life at 12 months compared with usual care.

216 people with heart failure, predominantly men with an average age of 70, were recruited from primary and secondary care in the UK, for a home-based programme. The programme, facilitated by a trained cardiac nurse or physiotherapist and developed from health behaviour change theory, was co-developed...

PenCLAHRC’s Deputy Director, Professor Ken Stein, has been appointed as Programme Director for the NIHR Systematic Reviews (SR) Programme. The NIHR SR Programme manages the NIHR support for Cochrane activities in the UK and the NIHR support for the academic units on whose work all National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) appraisals are based.

Ken will take on the role from September 2018, succeeding Professor Tom Walley, who says:

“I am delighted that Ken has accepted this position. I am confident that under Ken's leadership the NIHR SR Programme will continue to fund and oversee vital high quality research that will continue to provide decision makers...

Learning to manage going to the toilet independently is an important milestone in child development. Being continent involves recognising that you need to go to the toilet, controlling until an appropriate place can be found, urinating and/or defecating, and cleaning up afterwards.

Children with special educational needs and disability may be slower to learn to manage going to the toilet, or need extra help, but many can become continent with the right support.  Clinicians often recommend ways to improve continence, including toilet training programmes, nappies and other products, aids and equipment, medicines and surgery. Children should be assessed carefully by clinicians...