Background

The North has a globally recognised clinical research cluster built on the research being conducted in NHS Trusts, Universities and rapidly developing hub of life science companies. Around 570,000 people are employed in health sciences across the North, 7.5% of the region’s workforce, with 38,000 jobs supported in over 1,000 private sector companies. Government funding has not reflected this with less than 6% of recent NIHR budget deployed across the North.

NHSA support

The NHSA has worked consistently to promote the work of the North’s health sciences through its promotional activity. This has included: Westminster round tables with ministers, evening events attended by Minsters including, Lord Prior, George Freeman MP as well as by the Chair of NHS England Professor Sir Malcolm Grant and senior University, NHS, Government and Industry figures. The NHSA supported an IPPR North Health Innovation report highlighting inequalities in health funding – and the vast amount of value health science brings to the region. The NHSA attends global conferences and meetings speaking in the US, Singapore, Sweden, Berlin and many other countries to promote the North’s health science network. This has been supported by media coverage in national publications such as The Times, The Financial Times, The BBC, The New Statesmen, and more, and in regional publications such as The Yorkshire Post, The Newcastle Journal, Manchester Evening News, and more.

Results

The NHSA has been invited onto the UK Government Life Sciences Industrial Strategy Steering Group alongside the private sector, trade bodies, research charities and other health cluster teams. We were asked to co-produce a strategy document by UKTI (now DIT) to map out the North’s health science capabilities which is now in place across the world.
The NHSA received £20m funding to launch Connected Health Cities, a northern health data pilot. The North’s health science sector is becoming globally recognised with increasing investment and visibility for the region.