The prime minister has announced funding for medical research, 'to accelerate the discovery of life-saving drugs, improve patient care and make Britain the best place in the world for medical research.'
The Government and the Wellcome Trust will invest up to £600 million to create a new Health Data Research Service, which is designed to transform the access to NHS data by providing a secure single access point to national-scale datasets slashing red tape for researchers.
Clinical trials are also set to be fast-tracked to accelerate the development of the medicines and therapies of the future, with the current time it takes to get a clinical trial set up cut to 150 days by March 2026 (the latest data collected in 2022 was over 250 days). This is to be achieved by cutting bureaucracy and standardising contracts so time isn’t wasted on negotiating separate details across different NHS organisations.
It is hoped that this new drive will enable patients to have improved access to new treatments and technologies.
Prime minister, Keir Starmer, said: "The new era of global insecurity requires a Government that steps up, not stands aside.
"That is why we are going further and faster in reshaping our economy and delivering our Plan for Change.
"Life sciences, like our brilliant car industry, is a great British success story.
"The measures I am announcing today will turbo-charge medical research and deliver better patient care. I am determined to make Britain the best place in the world to invest in medical research.
"That is not just good for patients and their families. It means growth that puts more money in working people’s pockets with more, better paid jobs."
The new Health Data Research Service will bring access to data for medical research into one secure and easy-to-use location, so that researchers don't have to navigate different systems or make multiple applications for information for the same project.
The new process will be in place from the end of 2026 and the new service will be located at the Wellcome Genome Campus in Cambridgeshire, where Wellcome is building a range of new R&D lab and office spaces to expand the current campus’s capacity for innovative genomics and biodata companies.
Health and social care secretary, Wes Streeting, said: "Our Plan for Change will unleash the unparalleled power of NHS data, catalysing our efforts to fix the broken health service.
"We will unblock the barriers preventing our greatest scientists from safely accessing what they need to save patients’ lives – while keeping data secure.
"This venture will drive vital investment into the UK and put us at the epicentre of breakthroughs in science.
"If we can combine the care of the NHS with the ingenuity of our world-leading scientists, our health service could truly become the envy of the world."
Science secretary, Peter Kyle, said: "Building an NHS fit for the future is central to this government’s Plan for Change. Ensuring our research community can access the data which will drive untold improvements for patients across the country is key to that ambition.
"This is a service which has truly transformative potential – giving health experts access to the insights they need to drive forward more research and more clinical trials quicker than ever before.
"Protecting the data and anonymity of patients is non-negotiable. That’s why we’re also putting robust protections in place to make sure the incredible benefits we will all receive from this service will never come at a personal cost."
