Mapping the Innovation Landscape

Why the research is needed? 

In many cases it takes too long for the results from medical research to be used in health and care services. This means that new treatments are not available as quickly as they could be. This delay is known as the “translation gap”. The National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) has funded the Applied Research Collaboration (ARC) programme with the aim of closing the translation gap. Our study aims to help the ARC to achieve this in the East Midlands. We will do this by looking for people who can help to speed up the adoption of new medical evidence and treatments.  

What is already known about the subject? 

National studies have found that getting the results from medical research used widely to help patients is often a slow and tricky business. If has been reported that it can take more than 17 years for research evidence to be used for treatments. This means that patients do not get the latest treatments that could help them. Getting researchers to work more closely with people who can benefit from their work has been shown to reduce delays in introducing new treatments.  

Who we are working with? 

ARC EM already has good links with a range of partners, including local hospitals, charities, companies, community groups and universities. We are going to work with them to find new partners who will share our research findings and help improve the care of local people.  

How are patients and the public involved? 

We will be taking advice from patients and the public to help us find trusted groups and organisations to work with. The study team will include patient and public representatives. We will also report back and consulting with the ARC EM Community Voices Panel. This is an independent group of people who help to make sure the views of patients and members of the public are heard. They will be able to give advice and make sure that our research is asking the most important questions.  

What we will do? 

This study aims to find people who can work with ARC EM researchers to spread the use of effective new treatments. The study will do this in three steps:  Firstly, we will create a list of the people we have successfully worked with in the past who we will want to do further work within the future. Secondly, the study will look for new partners who can use our research findings. Thirdly, we will ask local health and care providers how we can make our findings more useful to them.  

What the benefits will be? 

The main aim of the study is to get research evidence into the hands of people who can actually use it to improve patient health and care by: 

• Making it clearer who ARC study teams should be working with locally. 
• Finding new ways for ARC researchers to work with people who can use their findings. 
• Presenting our research findings in a way that is more useful for people working in healthcare. 
• Making research evidence available more widely to help improve patient outcomes. 

When the findings will be available? 

The findings will be available from January 2021.  

How we are planning for implementation? 

We will be working with patients, the public, medical staff and researchers to make sure our findings will be useful. The ARC EM Implementation Hub will help to share our findings with other ARC teams and will help them to speed up the implementation of their studies. 

Contact

Rob Vickers, robert.vickers@nottingham.ac.uk