The UCL Institute of Child Health and partners have secured a five
year, £4.6m grant from the Department of Health Policy Research
Programme, to lead a new Policy Research Unit in the Health of Children,
Young People and Families (abbreviated to CPRU).
Professor
Terence Stephenson, Nuffield Professor of Child Health at ICH, and
President, Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, who lead the
winning team said,
“This is an exciting opportunity to ensure
that some of the key policy decisions affecting children and young
people can be informed by the best quality research. As such, we hope
to deliver the best policy research,” said Professor Stephenson.
An innovative feature of the CPRU is that it has designated resources toinvestigate
specific questions asked by Department of Health, as these arise in the
future. It is also well placed to seek further funding if additional
issues are identified.
The four research themes in the first year are:
1)
Led by Professor Catherine Law, UCL Institute of Child Health: Healthy
Child theme will explore the health of children in different family
structures
2) Led by Professor Ruth Gilbert UCL
Institute of Child Health: Healthcare Provision theme will explore
whether routine hospitalisation data provide evidence for whether the
NICE guidance on recognising child maltreatment has had an impact
3)
Led by Dr Miranda Wolpert, the Child and Adolescent Mental Health
Services (CAMHS) Evidence Based Practice Unit, UCL and the Anna Freud
Centre: Child mental health theme will explore how routine outcome
measures collected in CAMHS can be used to feedback to practitioners and
drive up standards
4) Led by Professor Russell
Viner, UCL Institute of Child Health: Adolescence theme will explore
interventions to prevent multiple high risk behaviours in adolescents
CPRU
is funded for five years to examine the research evidence base for
policy. The work of the CPRU falls into four themes, with the theme
leads based across UCL alongside important partners, such as the Social
Care Institute for Excellence (SCIE), leading children’s charity the
National Children’s Bureau (NCB) and the Anna Freud Centre.
Each
of the four themes have two projects which will be completed by
December 2012 and these will inform the programme for years three to
five.
The work of the CPRU is considerably enhanced by the four
cross-cutting themes. These are health economics (led by Professor
Steve Morris – UCL), the sociology of health and illness (led by
Professor Helen Roberts – ICH), social care (led by Amanda Edwards –
SCIE) and patient and public involvement (PPI) (led by Catherine Shaw
from the NCB)
The Unit will not be a general research unit for media, charity or public enquiries
The Unit was formally launched Weds 20th July,at the Institute of Child Health
