Themes

The development of the NIHR HIC capability has focused on key therapeutic areas, chosen for their importance to patients and the NHS and also for the different challenges that they present in terms of data quality and availability:

  • COVID-19
  • cardiovascular medicine (formerly acute coronary syndromes)
  • critical care
  • ovarian cancer
  • renal disease (formerly renal transplantation)
  • viral hepatitis and liver disease
  • cancer: breast, colorectal, lung, and prostate
  • infectious diseases
  • hearing health
  • musculoskeletal
  • myeloma
  • transfusion dependent anaemias
  • diabetes
  • children’s surgery outcomes

In addressing data quality and availability in these areas, the NIHR HIC partners have been able to build upon work by the following organisations:

  • Hepatitis C Virus Research UK (HCV UK)
  • NHS Blood and Transplant (NHSBT)
  • Intensive Care National Audit and Research Centre (ICNARC)
  • Myocardial Ischaemia National Audit Project (MINAP)
  • National Cancer Intelligence Network (NCIN)
  • UK Research Reserve (UKRR)
  • Bloomsbury institute of Intensive Care Medicine (BiICM)
  • Myeloma UK

In each theme, clinicians, scientists, and informaticians from the partner organisations work together to deliver the NIHR HIC capability – the data flows and the governance framework – and to demonstrate that capability through exemplar research studies.

Each of the themes is led by a different university-hospital partnership:

  • COVID-19, since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, the NIHR HIC Cardiovascular Medicine Theme has been leading on a data collaboration to allow cardiovascular questions to be answered in relation to COVID-19. The work has been prioritised by the NIHR/BHF Cardiovascular Partnership, connecting the cross-BRC collaboration to the network of BHF Centres and Accelerators.
  • cardiovascular medicine (formerly acute coronary syndromes), by Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust and Imperial College London
  • critical care, by University College London Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and University College London
  • ovarian cancer, by Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and the University of Cambridge
  • renal transplantation, by Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust and King’s College London
  • viral hepatitis and liver disease , by Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and the University of Oxford
  • breast cancer, by Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust and King’s College London
  • colorectal cancer, by Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and the University of Oxford
  • lung cancer, by Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust and Imperial College London, and University College London Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and University College London
  • prostate cancer, by University College London Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and University College London and Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust and King’s College London
  • infectious diseases, by Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust and Imperial College London, and Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust and King’s College London
  • hearing health, by University College London Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust, Manchester University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust.
  • musculoskeletal, by Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust and University of Leeds.
  • myeloma, by University College London Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
  • transfusion dependent anaemias, by University College London Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
  • Children’s Surgery Outcome Reporting (CSOR), by University of Oxford

How to work with NIHR HIC centres and themes

If you are a researcher and are interested in working with NIHR HIC centres or themes, please contact the relevant centre using the contacts page. NIHR HIC datasets are not currently available to researchers outside of the NIHR HIC; however it may be possible to establish new collaborations.