THE ROYAL IS APPOINTED AS THE LOCAL BRANCH OF THE NIHR CLINICAL RESEARCH NETWORK

THE Royal Liverpool and Broadgreen University Hospitals NHS Trust is 1 of just 15 NHS Trusts/Foundation Trusts in England to be appointed to run a local branch of the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Clinical Research Network.

The NIHR Clinical Research Network is the clinical research delivery arm of the NHS. It provides funding to hospitals and surgeries to pay for research nurses, scans, x-rays and other costs associated with carrying out clinical research in the NHS.

The Network helps to increase the opportunities for the [region's] patients to take part in clinical research, ensures that studies are carried out efficiently, and supports the Government's Strategy for UK Life Sciences by helping companies to carry out vital clinical research into potential life saving new treatments and improved ways to diagnose illnesses in the NHS.

Since April, the NIHR Clinical Research Network has been carrying out a rigorous selection process to identify the NHS Trusts/Foundation Trusts to run its 15 local branches across England. The process was open to all NHS Trusts and Foundation Trusts in the region.

As the chosen Trust for the North West Coast, the Royal will be awarded a five year contract from the Department of Health through the NIHR, and will take responsibility for distributing £17m of funding per year, to support clinical research across the whole area.

Commenting on the appointment, Aidan Kehoe, chief executive said:- "We are delighted to be appointed as the Local Clinical Research Network host for the North West Coast. Over recent years there has been significant growth in the clinical research profile of this region from Cumbria and Lancashire to Merseyside and Cheshire. As network host we will be working with NHS Trusts and other partner organisations from across the whole region to raise the profile of clinical research and embed it into core NHS activity throughout the whole North West Coast region, so that local people can benefit from having access to the very latest treatments."

The Chair of the selection panel, Dr Jonathan Sheffield, Chief Executive of the NIHR Clinical Research Network, said:- "The host organisations are our local administrative branches; but they are so much more than that. They will help to set the level of ambition for clinical research delivery locally, and assist us in making sure that clinical research occupies the place it deserves in the day to day work of the NHS. We were extremely impressed with the commitment shown by the Royal during the selection process, and I very much look forward to working with them to increase the opportunities for patients to participate in research, and develop the treatments of the future."

Clinical research provides evidence about "what works" and on how the NHS can best use its resources to provide better treatments for NHS patients across all areas of medicine. The promotion, conduct and use of clinical research is included in the NHS Constitution, which pledges that patients will be informed of research studies in which they may be eligible to participate.

Last year, more than 630,000 patients took part in clinical research studies supported by the NIHR Clinical Research Network.

Wind farm regulation makes consumers pay

IS this correct? According to Royal Geographical Society (RGS) :- "Consumers will be saddled with the cost of green energy infrastructure for at least 20 years under agreements that ensure profitability for Offshore Transmission Owners (OFTOs)." This statement is back by research presented at the Royal Geographical Society (with IBG) international conference in London. Also stated in the release that Ms Hiteva from the RGS said:- "The current regulation of offshore wind energy transmission, as well as increasing costs of green energy, will disproportionately affect consumers already living in fuel poverty, Ralitsa Hiteva of the University of Manchester told the conference. Offshore Transmission Owners, who are responsible for transmitting electricity from the offshore wind farms to the shore, have 90% of their income guaranteed regardless of how much energy they transmit. Ofgem is the 1st energy regulator worldwide to issue offshore transmission licences, which are designed to attract cheap capital. In making offshore transmission contracts attractive to investors; which include pension funds with no previous experience in electricity transmission; but Ofgem is at odds with its mandate of representing consumer rights. Consumers ultimately pay for the costs of transmission infrastructure, but their interests are overshadowed by Ofgem's desire to make the offshore transmission regime work. If green energy is to grow rapidly and fuel poverty is to be alleviated, consumers must be better represented throughout the whole electricity supply chain, not just at the point of consumption."