Following the Secretary of State for Health the Rt. Hon. Jeremy Hunt’s announcement of £14.25m funding to support 11 NIHR medtech and in vitro diagnostic cooperatives nationally, we are delighted to announce that University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust (UHB) has been awarded funding to establish the NIHR Trauma Management MedTech Cooperative (MTC).

The cooperatives will build expertise and capacity in the NHS to develop new medical technologies and provide evidence on commercially supplied in vitro diagnostic (IVD) tests. Funding will be provided over five years for leading NHS organisations to act as centres of expertise, bringing together patients, clinicians, researchers, commissioners and industry. The NIHR Trauma MTC at UHB will have a specific focus on medical devices and technology in the trauma management field, led by Dr Tom Clutton-Brock.

UHB is a UK major trauma centre, home to the Royal Centre for Defence Medicine, and a regional burns centre. This award will allow the Trust to build on five successful years of working with the public, clinicians, academics and industry to drive innovation in the medtech sector, as part of the NIHR Healthcare Technology Cooperatives initiative.

University Hospitals Birmingham is also a part of Birmingham Health Partners (BHP), a strategic alliance between UHB, the University of Birmingham and Birmingham Women’s and Children’s NHS Foundation Trust. BHP focuses on the identification, adoption and spread of innovation and best practice through the alignment of healthcare delivery, research and training. It aims to improve healthcare, contribute to the local economy through job creation and inward investment into the biomedical sector, and increase public engagement and education about biomedicine and clinical research.

Dr Louise Wood, Director of Science, Research and Evidence at the Department of Health said: “The funding received by the eleven NIHR medtech and in vitro diagnostic cooperatives will make a real difference to patients’ lives and provide a focal point for the medtech and in vitro diagnostic industries to develop new technologies and generate the evidence needed by the NHS to support the uptake of new tests."

The commencement of the NIHR Trauma MTC will coincide with the launch of the Medical Devices Testing and Evaluation Centre (MD-TEC) in Birmingham in January 2018, which will offer a unique opportunity to facilitate evaluation of products for industry in a ‘real-life’ environment, involving appropriate clinical and technical staff.

You can read the NIHR’s announcement and find further details of the new NIHR medtech and in vitro diagnostic cooperatives on the NIHR website.