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Doctors and medical researchers across the UK are being urged to come up with new ideas for improving patient care to win this year’s QInnovation Award from The University of Nottingham’s unique clinical data partnership, QResearch®.
With a grant of up to £10,000 for the winner, the award is inviting entries from UK research teams involved in projects that are likely to benefit patients or improve clinical care in primary, secondary or community health.
QResearch® is a not-for-profit partnership between The University of Nottingham and EMIS Group plc — the UK leader in clinical IT systems for joined-up patient care. Entries are now being accepted with a closing date of 5pm on Friday, 31 January 2014.
Diabetes success
Last year, a project led by GP Dr Tim Walter from Falkland Surgery in Newbury was one of the two to win a £10,000 grant from QInnovation. Dr Walter’s team looked at diabetes risk identification and intervention.
A judge on this year’s panel, Dr Tim Walter has seen the benefit of QInnovation funding first hand. He said: “Thanks to QInnovation, together with support from the clinical commissioning group (CCG), we were able to screen 113,000 patients for diabetes risk using QDiabetes® and invite those identified to take part in a specially designed weight and fitness management course. Nearly a third responded. Using the research results we’ve been able to develop a step-by-step toolkit for CCGs to follow with at-risk patients that ultimately could help save lives. This can be found at www.predm.co.uk.”
The winning team must include at least one member with postgraduate research experience, and the research must be completed within 2 years of the award.
Data power prize
The winning team will receive:
- data from QResearch® - one of the largest GP research databases in the world
- 2-3 days of time from an expert epidemiologist/statistician
- up to £10,000 to support the research or its dissemination
Professor Julia Hippisley-Cox, Professor of Clinical Epidemiology and General Practice at The University of Nottingham and co-founder of QResearch® said: “We launched QInnovation last year hoping that it would stimulate research innovation in primary care. It certainly did that. This year, we are opening up the award to the wider healthcare landscape while retaining the core requirement – the project must demonstrate potential to deliver real clinical benefits and improve patient health. I have no doubt this year’s entries will be equally impressive.”
Dr Shaun O’Hanlon, Chief Clinical Information Officer at EMIS, said: “Improved patient care is at the heart of everything EMIS does – it’s my job to ensure our systems deliver clear clinical benefit. It is both exciting and a privilege to be involved with this award and recognise innovative research projects built around the same ethos.”
To enter the award, please go to http://www.qresearch.org/SitePages/QInnovation.aspx to complete the application form.