e-health research centre for Manchester

MANCHESTER is to be home to one of four e-health research centres, following a£19m investment from the Medical Research Council and a consortium of 10 government and charity research funders.

The new centres, also in London, Dundee and Swansea, will enable the UK to make more effective use of electronic health data – a field with huge possibilities for health care delivery and the understanding of disease.

The Manchetser centre has been awarded to a consortium led by The University of Manchester in partnership with the Universities of Lancaster, Liverpool and York.

HeRC will research new ways of harnessing electronic health data to improve care for patients and communities. The consortium brings together partners from academia, the NHS, local authorities and industry in a five to 10-year programme.

Simon Wallwork, partner and specialist in life sciences at law firm Semple Fraser, commented: “The funding will enable and accelerate the development of E-Health in Manchester. We are seeing a significant rise in the number of early stage companies in this sector and in the biomedical sector as a whole in the North West, which is a testament to the strength of the research and development undertaken in the academic institutions in Manchester.”