BRADFORD has secured a top place in a league table charting hospital research studies across England.

The National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Clinical Research Network has published its annual league table and Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust is in the top 30.

Professor John Wright, director of the Bradford Institute for Health Research said Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust is really proud to be the third biggest recruiter to medical research studies in Yorkshire.

Nationally Newcastle Upon Tyne came top of the league but in Yorkshire & Humber, the Bradford Hospitals Trust came fourth, after Hull, Sheffield and Leeds Teaching Hospitals in first position.

Prof Wright said: “We are proud to be the third biggest recruiter to medical research studies in Yorkshire - chasing the heels of Leeds and Sheffield. We know that hospitals that are research active give better quality of care as well as offering local patients the most cutting-edge new treatments.”

Bradford has 5,519 people involved in 180 research studies this year, which is six more studies than in 2014/15

Prof Wright added: “We are leading the way in the fields of asthma, eye disease, cancer treatments and kidney disease.”

The Trust’s research studies have ranged from trying out new treatments and drugs such as the newest inhalers for people with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease to looking at better ways of discharging ward patients to care homes and improving communication about them.

Out of all the trusts and organisations in the league table, Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust comes in 29th position.

The Trust recently invested £1.2 million refurbishing and extending the premises in the grounds of Bradford Royal Infirmary used by the Bradford Institute for Health Research giving more people the chance to take part in studies to help find potentially life-saving treatments.

More than 600,000 people across England participated in research in the NHS last year and every NHS Trust in the country is now research active.

Primary care research was also highlighted in the league table, Bradford District Clinical Commission Group (CCG) was in 21st place in the Yorkshire and Humber table recruiting 268 more volunteers this year joining its 16 studies.

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