Delivering excellent health and social care research

The Health and Care Research Wales funding infrastructure helps to support and increase capacity in research and development that will have a positive impact on the health, wellbeing and prosperity of the people of Wales.

In part this is being achieved through the funding of Research centres and units. All of which have an all-Wales remit, and involve multi-disciplinary health and social care research teams who have a track record of research excellence in addressing areas of public need.

Research centres

The National Centre for Mental Health (NCMH)

The National Centre for Mental Health (NCMH) brings together researchers investigating the causes of mental health problems from across Cardiff, Swansea and Bangor Universities.

Professor Ian Jones, NCMH director, said "Over the next two years we will be collecting more in-depth data to help us learn more about the complex causes of mental health problems. This will include recruiting more volunteers to complete our new assessments and widening the scope of our bio-sampling work. We’ll continue to work with our partners, including our public involvement group, to enrich our clinical, social and psychological data."

Find out more about the NCMH.

The Wales Cancer Research Centre

The Wales Cancer Research Centre is the latest tool in Wales’ efforts to beat cancer. It was formally launched in October 2015, bringing hope to cancer patients across Wales, and beyond.

At every stage of work, the centre involves public and patient representatives. This is based on a strong conviction that ordinary people should not just be the subjects of research, but should be active participants, working with researchers to plan, conduct and present their work.

Find out more about the Wales Cancer Research Centre.

PRIME Centre Wales

PRIME Centre Wales is the Centre for research into the primary and emergency care sectors – essential sectors for research as over 90% of all patient contacts occur here, and efficiency and effectiveness of the whole system depends on strong primary and emergency care sectors working together.

Impact has been realised across the sectors, including: building family resilience through health visiting, improving oral health of children, implementing effective emergency care management for older people who fall, or others at high risk of admissions, minimising antimicrobial resistance, improved patient safety, and promoting patient-centred holistic care.

Find out more about PRIME Centre Wales.

Research Units

The Brain Repair and Intracranial Neurotherapeutics (BRAIN) Unit

The Brain Repair and Intracranial Neurotherapeutics (BRAIN) Unit, brings together experts from Cardiff, Swansea and Bangor Universities, along with colleagues in NHS Wales and industry and is working to develop novel therapeutics for neurological and neurodegenerative conditions.

Achievements to date include successfully delivering the first ever robot assisted EEG electrode placement for epilepsy neurosurgery in Wales and developing effective methods for patients and carers with a range of neurological conditions, to evaluate their own situation and needs through the use of remote monitoring and wearable technologies or smart devices.

Find out more about the BRAIN unit.

The Wales Kidney Research Unit

The Wales Kidney Research Unit (WKRU) has members from every Renal Unit in Wales and provides core infrastructure enabling researchers, clinical staff, patients, families and carers to work together to answer important health and social care research questions related to kidney disease.

The WKRU has taken part in more than thirty visits to schools and community groups and contributed to third sector events across Wales, including individuals and groups from Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME), disadvantaged, and special needs communities.

Find out more about the WKRU.

This is a shortened version of the full article that features in edition 28 of ReMEDy.

Read the full article