The Bradford Institute for Health Research (BIHR), part of Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, has won £1.3m in government funding to cover the cost of expanding clinical research space at Bradford Royal Infirmary.
The new modular building will incorporate flexible clinic research space for outpatient and day case studies, larger lab facilities, a phlebotomy room, and a pharmacy.
The new modular building will incorporate flexible clinic research space for outpatient and day case studies, larger lab facilities, a phlebotomy room, and a pharmacy
The new facilities at Bradford Royal Infirmary will further enhance the city’s research capacity, with the potential to double clinical research participation, especially among ethnic minorities and socially deprived patients.
Additional benefits include:
- The expansion of commercial research partnerships and trials in vaccines, genetics, neurodegenerative diseases, and other areas.
- The acceleration of flagship programmes like Born in Bradford’s 60,000-person inter-generational cohort.
- An increase in the number of National Institute for Health and Care Research portfolio studies.
- More collaboration with university partners in advanced clinical profiling and discovery science.
The Director of BIHR, Professor John Wright, said: "Our current facilities are based in a converted Victorian stable block—dark, cramped, and overcrowded. The lack of space has created a major rate-limiting step in our offer of world-class research to seldom-heard communities."
Current facilities are based in a converted Victorian stable block — dark, cramped, and overcrowded
"New clinical research space will allow us to dramatically expand research participation and scientific programmes to transform health locally and globally. Our patients and staff deserve expanded, modern research facilities and the modular extension will enable this."
In May this year, it was confirmed that Bradford had already leapfrogged centres like London and Cambridge to lead the UK in health-related research for the first time, with a record 25,000 Bradfordians registered in the previous 12 months to participate in over 80 live studies.