£17.9m Funding Boost For Multiple Long-Term Conditions Research
Researchers are set to transform the way complex care needs are managed, following a major £17.9 million joint investment by the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) and the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) in three new research partnerships focused on people living with multiple long-term conditions (MLTC).
Funded through the Systems Engineering Innovation Partnerships for Multiple Long-Term Conditions (SEISMIC) Programme, the initiative brings NIHR and EPSRC’s total combined investment to £19.6 million — a significant commitment to finding smarter, more integrated approaches to care that could have far-reaching implications for residents and staff across the UK’s residential and nursing care sector.
Funded for 5 years, the partnerships aim to improve health and care services for people with MLTC. They bring together 2 distinct research disciplines – systems engineering and health care evaluation.
MLTCs refer to people living with 2 or more chronic conditions (physical or mental – often referred to as multimorbidities). Older people are more likely to live with these conditions, yet the burden at all ages is significant. Younger people living with these conditions also have complex care needs requiring treatment, and support.
SEISMIC builds and strengthens links between researchers from both systems engineering and health care evaluation. This enables them to work more closely and share expertise.
Using this innovative new approach, researchers will apply systems engineering to service redesign. They will consider elements of a complex system to drive transformation in health and care services. The successful partnerships will aim to: understand how best to configure services around the needs of people with MLTC improve services sustainably, in the longer-term.
The investment demonstrates how NIHR is addressing the Government’s 10-Year Plan – through the shifts of hospital to community, and analogue to digital. It also shows how NIHR is meeting the Life Sciences Sector Plan by addressing its 3 core pillars. These are: Enabling World Class R&D; Making the UK an Outstanding Place in Which to Start, Grow, Scale, and Invest, and Driving Health Innovation and NHS Reform.
Professor Kathy Rowan, Director of the NIHR/EPSRC SEISMIC Programme, said:
“Millions of people are now living with chronic conditions, meaning they have increasingly complex care needs, requiring extra treatment and support. By joining forces with the EPSRC, we are bringing together the very best skills and knowledge of systems engineers with researchers in health care evaluation, offering a unique and fresh perspective on how to tackle some of the key issues facing people with MLTC.
“These innovative new partnerships are harnessing cutting-edge methods with the aim to improve longer-term care, and to support more effective and efficient use of health and care resources. This includes making care more available on people’s doorsteps and in their homes as part of the shift from hospital to community.”
