GOSH Charity funds six new research projects to improve patient experience
28 Nov 2024, 11:26 a.m.
Great Ormond Street Hospital Charity (GOSH Charity) is funding six new research projects that will improve the everyday experience of children and young people living with a rare or complex disease.
This is a new, and incredibly important, area of focus for the charity and is in line with one of the four priorities in our £70 million research strategy.
The burden of disease on patients is often so much more than the medical condition itself. We hope this funding call encourages healthcare professionals to take a more holistic, patient-centred approach to understanding day-to-day life with a rare or complex disease.
This is key to making sure research prioritises the issues that matter most to patients and their families.
The £435,000 in funding is part of the charity’s new Lift Off Grant scheme which launched earlier this year with the discovery research awards.
The six funded projects
The funded projects are all clinical research projects directly involving patients. Two aim to improve imaging for more accurate surgery and better treatment targets, while another is looking at ways to monitor and assess the symptoms of a rare genetic condition in children.
Applications from non-medical staff were encouraged for this funding call and we are delighted that two of the funded projects are led by healthcare professionals in the fields of nursing and pharmacy and one is led by a social science researcher in the field of genomic medicine.
Dr Melissa Hill is a Senior Social Scientist at Great Ormond Street Hospital (GOSH). She’s running a study to explore the ethics around screening for and treating genetic conditions before birth. She explains what receiving this grant means for her:
“I am working towards leading my own research team at GOSH and the Lift Off funding is a unique and exciting opportunity that will help me to build a strong application for further funding. The emphasis on patient-focused research in the Lift Off funding is particularly important to me. It will allow me to explore the views of people with genetic conditions so that my future funding applications are focused on the issues that are a priority for patients, parents and families.”
Children’s cancer nurse and Deputy Chief Nurse for Research, Nursing and Allied Health at GOSH, Professor Faith Gibson, is looking to better understand how parents, healthcare and education professionals can better support children with cancer returning to school.
And Pharmacist Stephen Tomlin, Director of Children’s Medicines Research and Innovation Centre at GOSH wants to make prescription information easier for patients and families to access by adding QR codes to pharmacy labels.
All shortlisted applications to the Patient-Focused Lift Off Grant scheme were carefully reviewed by our Scientific Assessment Panel and Patient Benefit Panel.
The six funded projects stood out for their strong scientific quality and potential to make a real difference for patients and families.
Supporting early-stage research
The new Lift Off Grants help kickstart research into rare or complex childhood diseases. They provide seed funding to collect initial data, which will move the research forward and strengthen future applications for larger project grants.
Our funding of early-stage ideas has been pivotal in paving the way for bigger breakthroughs for seriously ill children. Previous funding rounds have helped scientists to get new ideas off the ground, paving the way for larger grants.
With just £3m of previous funding into starter grants, our scientists have brought in £37m in additional funding to grow their research.
Apply for funding
The scheme is likely to return is 2025, so watch this space. Read more about this scheme and other opportunities on our apply for funding pages.
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