The newest Lister Alliance Living Lab to join the fold will be established in the West Midlands with Birmingham, the country’s second largest city, leading the charge. This is an area comprising 6.2 million people, where more than 100 languages are spoken, and a diverse population that reflects the global community. With this picture comes unique healthcare challenges — and a huge opportunity for a bespoke, iterative, collaborative living lab approach led by the University of Birmingham in partnership with the Cisco Country Digital Acceleration programme.

Our project aims to improve communication between primary, secondary, and at-home care to prevent unnecessary admissions and readmissions, and address health inequalities through better preventative health measures. The region is also home to the West Midlands Secure Data Environment, which will be a vital component of the West Midlands Living Lab as we seek to break down siloes between existing services in the region, and orchestrate better, connected health and social care.

We will launch with pilots based in community hubs, NHS Primary Care and hospital trusts to form key anchor points with our local citizens. Partnerships with community organisations will help us expand our footprint and ensure we are addressing the needs of our diverse neighbourhoods.

Advancing the 10 year health plan

The timing is ideal. The University of Birmingham’s recent testing of wearable devices to continuously monitor medication response in patients with heart disease has been included in the government’s Fit For The Future 10-year health plan for England as an example of how to transform NHScare. The research has shown, among other things, how wearable tech can provide information similar to that recorded at hospital visits. More trials will be needed, but these early indications show promise for a less hospital-centric and more personalised approach to care.

Our new living lab will build on this type of work: orchestrating data, inviting industry in to innovate, driving productivity — and better health outcomes. This includes exploring technologies for remote monitoring, developing AI tools for predictive analysis, improving discharge processes, and integrating data into electronic patient records. If we’re going to make good on the big bets outlined in the Fit For The Future plan, then we will need to bring the many great people already doing the work — and the valuable data it generates — together.

Hope in healthcare

We are optimistic and ambitious to improve routine NHS care through deploying new technologies, but also realistic that we need to avoid further health inequality. Living labs are just as much about finding out what does work as what doesn’t, and we plan to achieve this through co-production with local community leaders.

Our coverage area spans different urban and rural populations, and will benefit from prior learning through the Lister Alliance. The healthcare needs in one area of a city like Birmingham can be very different to those for people living just a mile down the road, let alone in a village in Shropshire. We remain realistic about the task of integrating new technology to improve routine NHS care, testing methodologies and producing generalised solutions that can be adapted to the specific needs of communities.

Our goal, ultimately, is to create something that amounts to far more than the sum of its parts. To do that means identifying the specific value that each of those parts can offer, and then producing the recipe that will allow for impact in the lives of people in the West Midlands and beyond. This living lab will kick off with an inaugural meeting on the 25th November, involving stakeholders from primary and secondary care NHS services, health technology companies, researchers, patient and public representatives, health policy experts and community organisations. Do reach out to us if you’d like to get involved.

A new digital platform has been launched to transform how NHS GP practices take part in clinical trials, making research quicker, easier and more inclusive for patients across the UK.

The DaRe2THINK clinical trial, led by the University of Birmingham and the Clinical Practice Research Datalink (CPRD; part of the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency), and run in partnership with NHS providers and the NIHR Research Delivery Network, has developed the platform to reduce paperwork for GP staff and reach communities often underrepresented in research.

The platform securely links to GP systems, automatically transferring relevant health data to participating NHS General Practices, significantly reducing administrative burden on clinical staff. The enhanced functionality enables practice staff to rapidly identify suitable patient cohorts for NHS clinical trials and engage participants through integrated mobile messaging systems.

DaRe2THINK already securely screens routine healthcare records from over 13 million NHS patients across more than 450 General Practices in England. This builds upon efforts to embed research into everyday NHS care.

Puja Myles, Director of CPRD at the MHRA, said: “This platform represents a paradigm shift in how we conduct primary care research. By leveraging routine health data and advanced digital tools, we’re removing traditional barriers that have prevented many communities from accessing the benefits of clinical trial participation.”

The current DaRe2THINK trial is investigating whether earlier intervention with NHS treatments can prevent blood clots and memory loss in patients with atrial fibrillation, a common heart rhythm condition associated with vascular dementia. Notably, 25% of participating practices are in England’s most health-deprived areas, addressing long-standing inequalities in clinical research participation.

The enhanced digital platform has now been rolled out across England, making it quicker and simpler for NHS staff to reach out to their patients, and embedding prevention into routine care.

Dipak Kotecha, University of Birmingham

Dipak Kotecha, Professor of Cardiology at the University of Birmingham, said: “DaRe2THINK is leading the way to empower patients and provide an opportunity to take part in NHS clinical trials.

“The enhanced digital platform has now been rolled out across England, making it quicker and simpler for NHS staff to reach out to their patients, and embedding prevention into routine care.”

Dr Alexandra Lee, a General Practitioner at University of Birmingham, said: “The digital trial platform used in DaRe2THINK has had a positive impact on the delivery of primary care research and has helped recruit a new cohort of general practices that haven’t previously taken part in clinical trials.”

Charles Michaleis, a DaRe2THINK Participant, said: “The DaRe2THINK study was very easy to sign up to and get involved in, with the hope that this will lead to improved treatments for NHS patients who have atrial fibrillation.”

The trial is funded by the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) Health Technology Assessment programme and supported by a dedicated public engagement team. The research was carried out at the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) Birmingham Biomedical Research Centre (BRC).

DaRe2THINK aims to democratise access to clinical trials across all communities; the platform’s development aligns with the NHS People Plan to foster inclusive research culture and supports the broader goal of improving efficiency in community-based clinical trials.