How NIHR ARCs rose to the challenge of COVID-19

A national publication highlighting how National Institute for Health and Care Research Applied Research Collaborations (NIHR ARCs) rose to the challenge of COVID-19 launches today, the third anniversary of the first UK lockdown.

Vital work from across the ARCs in response to the pandemic is showcased in NIHR ARCs: Supporting the fight against COVID-19 (PDF), including ARC West projects.

The publication brings together case studies demonstrating how ARCs pivoted their research programmes in response to the pandemic. It showcases work across a range of themes including children and young people, care homes, equality and diversity, end of life care and workforce planning.

Like many ARCs, ARC West made a key contribution to the national collaborative effort to provide the evidence base underpinning the strategic response to the pandemic. In particular we played an important role in the UKRI Longitudinal Health and Wellbeing National Core Study and associated projects.

Regionally, ARC West led three projects included in the publication. Our rapid response service brought together more than 70 volunteer researchers from the Universities of Bristol, the West of England and Bath, as well as other ARCs around the country. They all came forward to help in the COVID-19 effort by responding to research questions from the health and care system.

The rapid response service features in the data and analytics chapter alongside our review of evidence of COVID-19 treatments, with particular emphasis on our analysis of seven trials looking at corticosteroids. This review, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), found these cheap and readily available drugs reduced the risk of death by 20 per cent in critically ill COVID-19 patients.

The RAPCI project which looked at how GP practices adapted to the pandemic is also included in the general practice chapter. Our researchers looked at how remote consultations were implemented, how the pandemic affected the reporting of cancer symptoms and how face-to-face consultations were maintained.

Professor John Macleod, Director of NIHR ARC West, said:

“The pandemic was life changing for everyone. While some may want to move on from those difficult memories, others are still living through the after-effects. The third anniversary of that first seismic lockdown is an appropriate time to reflect and take stock of the work undertaken across all the ARCs.

“I am immensely proud of how the ARC West team worked so hard and made such an important contribution through this upheaval. This document stands as testament to their efforts, and the efforts of everyone across the ARCs nationally who did so much during the pandemic.”

The publication was led by NIHR ARC East Midlands, with communications support from NIHR ARC West. In the foreword, the ARC Directors write:

“In 2020, we made rapid changes to our research programmes across the ARCs, to inform policy and practice, improve health and care, and deliver national-level impact in this rapidly changing landscape.

“Our expertise in data modelling, multiple long-term conditions, mental health and social care alongside our ability to build and sustain collaborations across the NHS, social care, the voluntary sector and industry, has placed us in a unique position. We have been able to contribute to the efforts to understand the virus and its impact on communities, locally, nationally and globally.

“This publication outlines our response as ARCs, both collectively and individually, to this challenge. It showcases the part we have played in supporting the health and care sector and patients, public and communities. We are proud of our part in lending our expertise to understanding the disease and assisting the global effort to contain it, improving outcomes and saving lives.”

Professor Lucy Chappell, Chief Executive of the NIHR and the Department of Health and Social Care’s Chief Scientific Advisor, said:

“The COVID-19 pandemic was unlike any health crisis we had experienced for a century. In order for us to tackle the pandemic swiftly and strongly, we needed a collaborative and sustained approach across health and care research that harnessed the power of our collective effort like never before.

“This impressive report sets out how that effort was provided, extending across many different themes, specialisms, and areas of the country. It illustrates how researchers, working together to tackle a common cause, can have such an important impact for patients and the public.”

Download NIHR ARCs: Supporting the fight against COVID-19 (PDF).

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