A nationwide network of surgical clinical trial centres are being set up with the aim of improving the delivery of surgical care for patients.
The Royal College of Surgeons and its partners, which include the National Institute of Health Research, Rosetrees Trust and Cancer Research UK, have established a network of units across the UK where surgical research can be pioneered and effectively developed. The units will enable surgeons to learn more about how to deal with a range of conditions, assess new surgical techniques and discover surgical breakthroughs. Currently, less than 2% of Government funding for medical research goes into surgical areas, despite the fact that one-third of hospital admissions involve surgery. Medical charities have shown concern that the development of clinical research in surgery has lagged behind that of non-surgical disciplines. This is now seen as a priority for the NHS, and the initiative will look to recruit a minimum of 2,000 patients to take part in the new trials within the first four years of the scheme. The units are being set up in Manchester, Bristol, Oxford, London, Liverpool and Birmingham.
