Sheffield Children’s NHS Foundation Trust has announced that it has secured a £5m funding boost from the Children’s Hospital Charity in a move expected to improve paediatric care in the immediate and long term.
The news means that the charity has quadrupled its investment into research at the NHS trust, with £1m set to be available each year for the next five years.
Research will focus on topics such as:
- Rare diseases
- Health inequalities
- Child welfare and safeguarding
- Child health technologies
- Mental health
- Co-production
A step forward
Sheffield Children’s already participates in national and international research in collaboration with academia and hospitals to improve child health – whether that be through prevention, diagnostics or treatment.
The investment is expected to help Sheffield Children’s realise one its primary research goals. The trust has approximately 300 active research projects a year – this funding will help local health leaders increase that to 400, which is one of the goals of the trust’s research and innovation strategy.
Previous Sheffield studies have included investigations into back braces for scoliosis, food allergies, measuring stress hormones without needles or blood tests, and infection prevention.
Outstanding investment
“This investment is outstanding, the next five years are looking really exciting,” said Dr Meena Balasubramanian, clinical research director at Sheffield Children’s.
“We’ll be able to collaborate with, and access, greater resources than ever before and be able to engage with many more opportunities to drive more research at Sheffield Children’s as part of our work towards creating healthier futures for children and young people.”
The investment will also support research capacity within the trust – both in staff skills and infrastructure.
John Armstrong, the Children’s Charity’s CEO, added: “We have committed to quadrupling our annual investment in research, with a contribution of £5m over the next five years, which will help build the capacity and infrastructure necessary to enable Sheffield Children’s to become world leaders, driving and delivering cutting-edge research, and enabling far-reaching impact.”
Armstrong added that his organisation wants to help Sheffield Children’s become one of the top paediatric hospitals in the world.
Image credits: iStock & Sheffield Children’s NHS Foundation Trust
