Southampton joins national collaboration to advance surgical care

A new research collaboration has launched to improve surgical care and patient safety in the NHS.

Perioperative care supports patients before, during and immediately after major surgery. Southampton researchers are world-leaders in the field.

It is one of the focuses of a new NIHR Translational Research Collaboration in Surgery and Perioperative Care (SPOC TRC) announced this week.

The national network is hosted by the NIHR Bristol Biomedical Research Centre (BRC). It brings together experts from across the country.

Professor Mike Grocott, Director of the NIHR Southampton BRC, is the collaboration’s Deputy Chair.

Collaborative research

Translational Research Collaborations (TRCs) are collaborative groups of experts from across the UK. They are formed via Biomedical Research Centres.

Translational research focuses on testing the safety and impact of innovations. It also involves examination of how new procedures lead to patient benefit.

This type of research is currently limited in surgical and perioperative care. This is due to the complexities of interventions. They have many steps and often use various devices.

The oversight of innovation in this field is also different from that required to develop new drugs. This complexity makes research more challenging, and problems have occurred in recent decades.

One example is vaginal mesh surgery, which was used in pelvic organ prolapse and stress urinary incontinence. In 2018, the UK government and NHS implemented a pause on vaginal mesh surgery. This followed safety concerns.

‘Huge opportunity’

The new NIHR TRC aims to improve patient safety and drive innovative approaches to care. It will make innovation more patient-centred. The collaboration will also develop capacity and expertise in the field of surgery and perioperative care research.

It will do this by:

• Creating a network of surgeons, researchers and clinicians who can work together to undertake early phase, translational studies in this field
• Training the next generation of clinician innovators in research skills
• Addressing health inequalities by understanding the inclusivity in early phase studies and considering how to improve these to ensure they reflect the diversity of our population
• Managing demand, ensuring patients on waiting lists will benefit from interventions

Prof Grocott, Professor of Anaesthesia and Critical Care Medicine at the University of Southampton, said:

“The launch of the SPOC-TRC is a huge opportunity to improve the care of NHS patients through experimental medicine in surgery and perioperative care. This is a significant step-change that will drive and support national collaborations to achieve this goal.”

Prof Jane M Blazeby, Professor of Surgery and Chair of NIHR SPOC TRC, said:

“By working together, we hope to speed up innovation. This will particularly benefit patients with rare conditions, such as rare cancers. It will also help to raise awareness and begin the long-needed process of transforming how innovation in surgery and perioperative care occurs.”

Southampton’s leading role

The SPOC TRC will carry out research through three workstreams.

One of these will focus on Innovation in Perioperative Care. It will be led by researchers from the NIHR Southampton BRC’s Perioperative and Critical Care (PCC) theme. Professor Denny Levett, PCC theme lead at the NIHR Southampton BRC, said:

“We are delighted to be part of the new Surgery and Perioperative Care TRC. This is a fantastic opportunity to build on world-class perioperative care research in Southampton by partnering with BRCs around the UK.”

Natalie Owen, Head of NIHR Research Infrastructure, added:

“The new SPOC TRC is a significant move to enhance patient outcomes and ground surgical procedures in evidence-based research. It is poised to make a significant contribution to the advancement of surgical care and patient safety in the NHS.”