£123k boost to help fund cutting-edge research equipment at Bedfordshire hospitals

Beds Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust is to a receive £123k funding boost to pay for cutting-edge research equipment and technology.

The funding will drive research and innovation to enable scientific discoveries and new technologies to improve the prevention, management and treatment of disease.

It will pay for a range of innovative equipment, including imaging devices, mobile research vehicles, ultrasound equipment, and specialist fridges and freezers that are essential for storing samples used in research.

In total £2 million has been awarded to NHS organisations in the East of England as part of a wider investment of over £96 million awarded to 93 NHS organisations across England.

The investment is focused in areas outside the Greater South-East - with a particular emphasis on smaller regional NHS Trusts. More than a fifth of the funding - over £20m - is being invested in these smaller Trusts to support the expansion of research into primary care and mobile research units, allowing the NHS to boost its delivery of research in the community and in rural areas.

This funding call will be the first of a series of NIHR calls for capital investment, with an emphasis on extending the reach of research into communities to improve access to cutting-edge clinical trials.

The 93 organisations awarded funding are all part of the NIHR’s wider infrastructure, which includes Biomedical Research Centres and Clinical Research Facilities, as well as the NIHR’s Clinical Research Network.

As well as supporting the NIHR’s cutting-edge research, the awarded £96,271,285 will enhance the ability of the successful organisations to leverage additional funding from research funders, including commercial companies.

In turn, this will reaffirm the UK’s position as one of the most attractive places in the world for innovative companies to invest in research.

Health and Social Care Secretary Steve Barclay said: “The NHS and its staff have now served us for nearly 75 years and as we celebrate that achievement we want to make sure the health service is leading the way. This investment will also help the NHS continue to cut waiting lists – one of the government’s top five priorities.”