Research helps us increase our knowledge about human health and wellbeing.
This is so we can:
- provide life changing treatments
- diagnose diseases earlier or more accurately
- prevent people from developing conditions
- improve health and care for generations to come
- ensure everyone has a better quality of life.
Overall, the aim is to find out whether what is being tested is better than what is currently available. This can include therapies, medicines and services.
Although health professionals already know a great deal, there are still so many questions that need answers.
Important research discoveries
Every minute in the UK, someone is diagnosed with a disease or a condition. The treatment and support they will receive will, at some point, have been informed by research.
Whether it’s testing a new medicine, a new surgery procedure or scan, or trying healthier lifestyle choices to prevent disease, everyone has an important role to play – if they want to.
Here are some important research discoveries that shape our healthcare today:
Penicillin was discovered in 1928 and developed into a drug in the early 1940s. Today it’s used to treat a broad range of bacterial infections accounting for around 45% of the antibiotics prescribed in the NHS in England.
Research in the 1980s and 1990s showed that low doses of blood-thinning drugs such as aspirin and warfarin significantly reduced the number of heart attacks and strokes in people at risk.
We are conducting multiple clinical research studies, and are committed to improving the quality of care we offer and to making our contribution to wider health improvement.