DHSC issues guidance on the impact of COVID-19 on research funded or supported by NIHR

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Working with partners across the health and care system, NIHR enables and delivers world-class research that transforms people’s lives, promotes economic growth and advances science.

This is why the NIHR community must prioritise nationally-sponsored Covid-19 research activity, a key element of the Government’s overall response. We urge all parts of the research system to help progress these studies at pace.

Many of our community who drive or deliver NIHR research also provide direct care to patients and the public. Given the scale of the national and global challenge of Covid-19, clinical and academic health and care professionals currently funded by NIHR who are working on topics other than Covid-19 should prioritise frontline care, where requested to do so by their employing organisations.

Similarly, research staff with other relevant skills, such as pharmacists and laboratory technicians, should also prioritise support to frontline care.

In addition, researchers should consult with their employers to make facilities which currently support research studies available for frontline care.

This will mean that many research studies funded by NIHR, or supported by NIHR (via the Clinical Research Network and other NIHR infrastructure) may need to be paused, to free up NIHR-funded staff to help bolster the frontline response to Covid-19.

In addition, we recognise that NIHR award-holding organisations may need to pause research studies for locally determined public health reasons.

However, clinical trials or other research studies which are funded or supported by NIHR should continue if discontinuing them will have significant detrimental effects on the ongoing care of individual participants involved in those studies. These are clinical decisions which will need to be made on a case-by-case basis by local decision makers on the basis of local risk and capacity assessments.

All organisations holding NIHR awards that are paused will, in the short term, continue to receive payments from DHSC in line with existing NIHR contractual payment schedules.

This will be reviewed and if necessary, payment schedules will be updated as usual following the annual statement of expenditure. Where necessary, contract deliverables will be rescheduled allowing staff to concentrate on frontline care and Covid-19 research.

Any individuals or organisations funded by and/or supported by a particular NIHR funding stream who have further questions should contact their relevant NIHR Coordinating Centre in the first instance.

Your usual contacts will apply but, if in any doubt, please get in touch via the contact points outlined below.

Contact points for further information:

• If you are in receipt of career development award funding including fellowships: academy@nihr.ac.uk

• If you are in receipt of programme funding: either ccf@nihr.ac.uk (i4i, PRP, PGfAR, PDG, RfPB and RIGHT) or netsmonitoring@nihr.ac.uk (EME, HS&DR, HTA, PHR, ESP, CTU support funding, HSPR and global health units and groups)

• If you have questions about the delivery of a clinical study: crn@nihr.ac.uk

• If you are part of NIHR’s broader research infrastructure or a school or unit: ccf@nihr.ac.uk

• If you are a patient or member of the public and have been recruited into a research study, direct any questions to your study team

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