The Department of Health is to invest £64m in seven partnerships between NHS organisations and UK universities to carry out research into a range of major health conditions including heart disease, stroke, diabetes and obesity.
The National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Collaborations for Health Research and Care were selected by an independent international selection panel and will start work on 1 October 2008.
Each will bring together universities and their surrounding NHS organisations to test treatments and ways of working in specific clinical areas to see if they are effective and appropriate for everyday use in the health service, said public health minister Dawn Primarolo.
Where improvements are identified, the teams will help NHS staff to incorporate them into their working practices so patients across the local community receive a better standard of healthcare, she added.
