Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust is showcasing the ground breaking work of its hospitals at a regional event this month.
Doctors, nurses, midwives, allied health professionals and research staff from across the region will come along to the special event to find out more about the great work that takes place within the Centre for Health Research and Innovation (R&I) and its NIHR Lancashire Clinical Research Facility (CRF), and find out more about how they can get involved.
The NIHR Lancashire Clinical Research Facility, which is based at Royal Preston Hospital, is one of only 23 NIHR clinical research facilities in the country, and the only one of its kind in Lancashire. The centre provides patients in the Lancashire and South Cumbria area with the opportunity to be involved in clinical research across a wide range of health topics and conditions, and is a partnership with Lancaster University and Lancashire Care NHS Foundation Trust.
The event will take place on Friday 30th November from 8.30am – 4.30pm in Health Academy 1 Lecture Theatre at Royal Preston Hospital. The day will include presentations by Dr Richard Fitzgerald, Director of the NIHR Royal Liverpool and Broadgreen Clinical Research Unit, and Dr Amitava Ganguly, Medical Director of Medical and Scientific Affairs, Covance. The pair will deliver a double bill keynote speech on the future of experimental medicine.
Also contributing to the day are staff from Lancashire Teaching Hospitals who have been involved with practice changing and ground breaking work into clinical research. The team will speak on the advances that they have seen to clinical practice through research in the specialities of oncology, neurology, renal and paediatric research. Professor Hedley Emsley will talk about his work and links with the R&I and Dr Alison Birtle will discuss her roles in oncology with the R&I, as well as the NIHR North West Coast Clinical Research Network and her pioneering POUT study.
In partnership with the University of Central Lancashire, the work of the Clinical Academic Trainee Programme will also be showcased with presentations from the trainees themselves. Individuals studying on this programme are able to make a difference by combining clinical practice with research and innovation, to help develop new treatments for the future. The annual showcase will provide opportunities to meet with clinical academic trainees, medical students, and healthcare professionals to discuss their work.
Paul Brown, Head of Research and Innovation at Lancashire Teaching Hospitals, said: “Patients are at the heart of what we do, and we use this annual event to not only showcase our research, but also its benefits and how the work that our teams have been doing has had a huge impact on clinical practice, academia and industry. The event will showcase the vital work that we are doing and will continue to do to improve the care that is provided for patients nationally.”
Karen Partington, Chief Executive at Lancashire Teaching Hospitals, said: “As a leading research centre, research is extremely important to us at Lancashire Teaching Hospitals to enable us to offer our patients and their families the high quality care they deserve. We are extremely proud to play such a big part in innovation and developing ground-breaking treatments for the future, and are pleased to be able to showcase this work as part of this annual event.”