Update from NIHR Event in Durham - February 2016

1. Research for the Patient Benefit Programme Update – NIHR – 2 March 2016
Speaker: Luke Vale, Co-Director, Research Design Service NE
Applications which involve the Research Design Service have a 40% success rate.
Speaker: Ben Morgan, Assistant Director, RfPB Programme
There have been changes to the commissioning process.
There are 3 competitions per year.
There are now 8 Regional Advisory Panels.
The success rate is 22%.
There are now 3 new funding limits:
• Tier 1 up to £350k for projects close to patient benefit.
• Tier 2 up to £250 (soft ceiling) for feasibility studies.
• Tier 3 up to £150k for higher risk projects further from patient benefit, eg for developing
interventions where you cannot immediately evaluate the patient benefit.
New investigators are encouraged to apply, they can use this as a first grant scheme to kick start
their research career. Panels will assess the team as a whole so will expect to see a ‘mentor’ on the
team. Try not to have a team of 10 people all contributing a small amount of their time (1% FTE).
Have 1-2 experienced investigators with a higher FTE contribution.
For the 2016 competition there is a new 2 stage application process. Stage 1 is a shortened version
of the application. There is then an invitation to complete the rest of the Standard Application Form
(SAF) with Panel feedback to address. You will have 6 weeks to complete your Stage 2 application.
The aim is for a 50% success rate at Stage 2 with a shorter time to decision.
Talk to the Research Design Service who can advise on the research question in Stage 1 and can
advise on how to respond to Panel feedback in Stage 2.
The regional lead for the RfPB Programme is Sarah Forrest – Programme Manager.
Speaker: Scott Wilkes, Chair of RfPB Regional Advisory Board
RfPB targets patients and health professionals. It needs to be led by an NHS organisation but can
include academic staff. The success rate nationally is 22% but regionally we achieve a 25% success
rate.
There are a number of key issues to consider:

2. • feasibility, do the patients exist, are they willing to be randomised
• NO POWER CALCULATIONS
• where will this go next if it is to be of benefit to patients
• project needs to involve the public
• lay summary must be understandable – PLAIN ENGLISH is now a requirement for NIHR
funding
• how can you conceptualise the project within an NHS setting, ‘So What’
• refer to NICE guidelines
• don’t just refer to academic literature, seek out charity advice
It does not matter if there is a less experiences person as PI, as long as there is a credible team.
Stage 1 review will pick up on any ‘fixable faults’ and ask you to address them in Stage 2.
RfPB is about patients and cost effectiveness
Key points from Q&A Session
You would need to work really hard to convince the Panel to fund an app.
Don’t just look at interventions that work in a particular patient group and look to apply them to
other patient groups. Look at what won’t work and why.
With interventions, get patients and charity groups involved at an early stage to make sure that it is
an intervention that they would be happy with or interested in.
Have patient representatives on your steering groups so that patients are involved at all stages. PPI
should be into the research question. Get them involved before your Stage 1 application.
Resubmissions are allowed where there are ‘fixable faults’.
Where there are ‘themed calls’ for example ‘surgery’, the quality proposals in any area would always
win through, however where there was a tie, the ‘surgery’ project would get funding priority.
Luke Vale – Introduction
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B63TCaQtxYaeTFRqSmpjbUQ5MXFLckNISWVGLXhWS295bWxB/vie
w
Ben Morgan_Scott Wilkes
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B63TCaQtxYaeVTRRN2duU3NyN2ZlakpjeGRSSVZOLUpVd0tn/view