NIHR Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust CRF

The NIHR Nottingham Clinical Research Facility (CRF) was set up in 2017 to enable adults and children to take part in research that is the first step in testing new treatments.

It is based in the heart of Nottingham with dedicated research units on all three hospital sites of Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust (NUH). NUH is one of the biggest teaching hospitals in the country and over 4 million people have access to our services.

In four years, over 40,000 people have taken part in more than 460 research studies investigating new treatments for diseases and developing medical technologies here. Because of the CRF, 30% more experimental trials into cancers took place in Nottingham. Our research is helping people to be healthier, a huge issue for our local communities.

People in Nottinghamshire do not live as long as people in other parts of the UK. Locally life expectancy can be up to 14-years lower in parts of the City of Nottingham compared to the county. Our research is helping to reduce this gap. We need to expand to meet the size of this challenge.

Our plans for this are: •Creating the largest research facility in the Midlands - 16 adult and 4 children s beds and dedicated outpatient facilities for adults and children; in total over 3,400m2 of clinical space for research, an increase of over 50% from today •Leading research into new therapies for diseases that are contributing to lower life expectancy here - cancer, respiratory and inflammatory diseases •Using experimental research to improve mental health, neurological conditions and hearing loss all of which impact on the quality of life of millions of people •Developing new tools to diagnose diseases earlier using our world-leading expertise in Magnetic Resonance Imaging, invented in Nottingham •Using our expertise to turn scientific breakthroughs in areas like gene therapy and stem cell transplantation into effective treatments •Training a new generation of healthcare professionals in experimental research with new roles and investment in people at the start of their careers •Working with our citizens to make research more open, accessible and inclusive to all communities.

We will work to break down barriers to taking part in research for people at greatest risk of ill health.

We will build public confidence in experimental research through strong management, governance and independent review of all research proposals.

We are investing in the experience of taking part with dedicated areas for children and families, Research Volunteers to support patients, and moving our research as close to the patient as possible. We will involve people in the design of our trials, so that there are fewer barriers to taking part.

We use every penny of public money invested in our research responsibly returning value to patients by developing effective treatments which change lives. We are successful at bringing in extra investment to do more research. Since 2017 we have achieved a 60% increase in research income from experimental medicine.

By 2027 we will increase that investment by another 70%.