A group of healthcare workers and scientists across the North of England have been awarded £3.4m for a health data programme that will initially focus on improving monitoring of residents in care homes amid the Covid-19 pandemic.
The Better Care North Partnership brings together 15 organisations in the region, led by the University of Liverpool.
The partnership aims to improve the care and services for patients by supporting the better use of data and analytical tools and includes projects that aim to benefit some of the most vulnerable patient groups who are at greatest risk of Covid-19.
The partners will initially focus on improving monitoring of residents in care homes to detect deterioration, reducing the burden of use of anticholinergic medicines, and optimising prescribing of antibiotics, thereby reducing the potential for antimicrobial resistance.
The initiative is being funded via a £1.2m contribution from Health Data Research (HDR) UK and £2.2m from partner institutions.
The Northern Health Science Alliance, an alliance of 24 universities, NHS trusts and Academic Health Science Networks across the North of England, supported the bid across a broad coalition of northern partners and in engagement with the NHS.
The Better Care North Partnership will be co-ordinated by a team of researchers from the University of Liverpool led by Professor Sir Munir Pirmohamed who is currently David Weatherall Chair of Medicine, NHS Chair of Pharmacogenetics at the University of Liverpool, Director of the MRC Centre for Drug Safety Science and Wolfson Centre for Personalised Medicine.
Professor Pirmohamed said: “This partnership will help us to use all available data and advanced analytical techniques to gain actionable insights for optimising delivery of care for those who need it most.”
HDR is meanwhile establishing another health data research partnership in the south-west of England, co-ordinated by the University of Bristol.
