Researchers at Newcastle's NHS hospitals and Newcastle University have been given £23.1m to find ways of treating long-term health conditions like dementia that afflict us as we age.
The funding from the National Institute for Health Research will support five years of work at the Newcastle Biomedical Research Centre (BRC) looking at how illnesses such as dementia, liver disease and poor mental health impact our ageing population. Though one of 20 BRCs around the UK, Newcastle's is the only one to focus on ageing - its leadership adds: "This is particularly important in the region, where health and ageing inequality is significantly higher than in the South."
The work will involve experts from Newcastle University, Newcastle Hospitals NHS Trust and the Cumbria Northumberland, Tyne and Wear NHS Trust. The BRC is based at the Campus for Ageing and Vitality at the former Newcastle General Hospital site.
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Professor Avan Sayer is director of the BRC and the William Leech Professor of Geriatric Medicine at Newcastle University. She said the funding was "testimony to the excellence of our research" and added: "Our vision is to transform lives through world-leading research in ageing and multiple long-term conditions and crucially the views of patients and local communities have been central to its development.
"One in four people in England are living with multiple long-term health conditions and whilst these can develop at any age, they become more common and burdensome in later life. This major investment will allow us to continue to address their adverse effects on health and give us the opportunity to develop the much-needed interdisciplinary researchers of the future here in Newcastle and the North East."
This comes as GPs report how our ageing populations and the greater prevalence of illnesses like dementia leads to doctors doing ten-hour days and struggling to cope with demand for appointments.
Professor David Burn, Pro-Vice Chancellor for the Faculty of Medical Sciences at Newcastle University and Director for Newcastle Health Innovation Partners, said: “It is fantastic that the NIHR have continued their long-standing investment in Newcastle. This is further recognition of our outstanding research and our ability to take that research from discoveries in the laboratory through into new treatments in the NHS that benefit, not only our local population, but people nationally and internationally too."
Experts at Newcastle University and Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust have also been awarded £5.3m by the NIHR to fund research improving patient safety and health outcomes for those with multiple long term conditions.
In total, more than £100m has been granted to researchers based in the North of England. Dr Séamus O’Neill, Chief Executive of the Northern Health Science Alliance, said: “This is great news and must be the start of a new era of targeted investment by government in Northern institutions.
"The NHS Trusts and Universities involved will use this investment to bring in additional funding, particularly from industry. This will amplify the benefit of the BRC investment and trigger a virtuous cycle of activity, driving both economic growth and benefits to patients."
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