Research

Clinical Skills Managed Educational Network

The Clinical Skills Managed Educational Network (CS MEN) is pleased to invite proposals for small grants to support research and development in clinical skills in Scotland in 2011-12. As part of the ongoing grants programme, there will be continued funding of £30,000 to the CS MEN's three regions, including contributions towards fees for research Master's students.

Research should focus on topics around:

1. Human factors for patient safety,
2. Transferring skills from simulation into practice,
4. Measuring the impact of skills education in the workplace,
5. Accreditation of skills,
6. Inter-professional aspects of skills teaching, or
7. Partnership working.

Any research proposal should be able to demonstrate benefit to the patient experience or patient safety. Decisions on the successful applications will be based on the potential impact of the research findings, which researchers will have published in a peer-reviewed journal. Proposals are invited from individuals and groups in each region from HEIs and NHS health boards, though joint applicants do not need to come from within the same region.

The closing date for proposals is Monday 28 November 2011, 4 p.m. Decisions will be made in December and communicated to the Lead Applicant week commencing 19 December 2011.

For an application form and Terms and Conditions, email csmen@nes.scot.nhs.uk

CSO Primary Care Research Career Awards - Call for Applications

Call for applications for the CSO Primary Care Research Career Awards for 2011 is now open. Please see Guidance notes and the Application Form for more details.

The closing date for this round is Friday 26th August with awards available from 1 April 2012 (earlier starts may be considered in exceptional circumstances but should be discussed with me in advance). Interviews are likely take place in October and a firm interview date will be advised on receipt of application.

Anyone intending to submit an application please give Elaine Moir 0131-244-2215 early notice of this to assist in managing the call and subsequent review process.

SSPC Research Programmes

Two out of four programmes have been chosen by international peer review based on the following: an existing track record of high quality research including several project grants in cognate areas, PhD, postgraduate and clinician scientist fellowships; convincing plans to study important research questions and high productivity in research outputs. SSPC consortium members were invited to nominate, and partially fund, programme leaders who would be expected to work 4-6 sessions per week on the research theme, leading current research and new proposals that make best use of the range of primary care relevant research skills of people based in Scotland as well as working with international collaborators.

To find out more information regarding these programmes please click on the titles below:

• Supporting people with multiple morbidity: A primary care based research programme.
• A collaborative programme of primary cares cancer research for Scotland

Acknowledgement of Support from NHS Research Scotland (NRS)

Please see statement below from Cheif Scientist Office for attention of all researchers

As part of the implementation of the CSO Strategy, Investing in Research | Improving Health, are adopting the successful NHS Research Scotland (NRS) branding for all of the funding that we provide to the NHS to support research – this includes funding provided to the Scottish Clinical Research Networks and all other elements of funding to NHS Boards.

We are therefore writing to advise Boards and Networks that they are expected to ensure that all researchers (i.e. the Chief Investigator and other members of the study team) are made aware that it is their responsibility to ensure that the following text is used to acknowledge the support of NRS funding when publishing their study findings in peer-review journals, or any other form of publication:

"(Research team or organisation) acknowledges the financial support of NHS Research Scotland (NRS), through (add name of Network/Board here e.g. the Scottish Stroke Research Network or NHS Lothian)."

It is increasingly important for research funders to be able to track outputs related to their funding and we can only achieve an accurate picture with your assistance. Please can you ensure that you disseminate this information amongst your colleagues and help to ensure that such acknowledgements are included in publications as appropriate.

CSO Applied Research Programme Grants 2007-08

CSO put out a call for Applied Research Programme Grant applications in late 2007 to fund research which aims to provide evidence to improve health outcomes in Scotland and the service offered by NHS Scotland. All of the four successful bids announced in April 2008 were led by SSPC consortium members.

Please see CSO Applied Research Programme Grants for full details

UK Portfolio Review

The breadth and depth of primary care research has recently been summarised in a review of research registered on the UK Clinical Research Network database. Please see recent slides from the RCGP Conference - Short oral paper presentations - Frank Sullivan.pdf

The report has identified areas of strength and important potential activity gaps. Primary Care Researchers around the UK were asked to indentify priority research questions in each of the following topics :

• Cardiovascular
• Ophthalmology
• Haematology
• Cancer
• ENT
• Infection/Inflammatory
• Injuries/Musculoskeletal
• Neurological
• Mental Health
• Diabetes/Metabolic
• Oral/Dental
• Gastro
• Renal/Urogenital
• Reproductive Health
• Generic Relevanc and Cross Cutting Themes
• Respiratory
• Skin
• Stroke
• Paediatrics
• Ageing
• Palliative Care

The researchers were then asked to vote, using the delphi process, on the suggested topics and a final 10 for each topic area were finalised. The final stage of this review was to make the information useful to people, patients, policymakers clinicians and researchers and to decide which areas should be prioritised. A workshop was held in London to discuss 2 of the priority areas and the final report has now been released. UK Primary Care Portfolio Review Final Report. Appendix 1 Appendix 2, Appendix 3, Appendix 4, Appendix 5, Appendix 6, Appendix 7, Appendix 8, Appendix 9. Please note some of these files are large Pdfs, if you ahev any trouble downloading please email Laura Wilkie

We would like to thank everyone that has helped to pull this together and welcome any feeback or suggestions.

NHS Contributions by Research Active Senior Academics in General Practice and Primary Care

This paper sets out to capture the main areas where 26 senior academics in general practice and primary care in Scotland make a difference to NHS policy and practice. Please see full paper for details.