Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to collaborate with the NHS to (1) identify, and (2) prioritise, areas of research with the highest potential for successful translation into tangible benefits for patients and the healthcare system.

The Department funds and enables research through the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR). NHS England Demand Signalling teams aim to identify, prioritise, and outline the most important research questions and innovation challenges that need addressing to deliver the NHS Long Term Plan. The NIHR works closely with NHS England to explore commissioning new research addressing the priorities identified through the demand signalling work.

NIHR’s funding committees recommend which research projects to fund or prioritise, with input from those who use, work in and manage health and care services. The NIHR has also established networks, such as the NIHR Translational Research Collaborations, to facilitate the identification of areas of patient need with NHS trusts along with the United Kingdom’s leading universities and research centres.

The NIHR also works with the National Health Service’s Accelerated Access Collaborative (AAC), to promote the adoption and diffusion of proven innovations and the decommissioning of ineffective or superseded interventions. The NIHR is partnering with the AAC as it enters into agreements with commercial companies to align research, manufacturing, and innovation deployment activities.