Health Services and Delivery Research

The Health Services and Delivery Research (HS&DR) Programme funds research to produce evidence to impact on the quality, accessibility and organisation of health and social care services. This includes evaluations of how the NHS and social care might improve delivery of services.

The audience for this research is the public, service users, clinicians, professionals and managers. The programme has two workstreams: researcher-led and commissioned.

The HS&DR Programme aims to support a range of types of research including evidence synthesis and primary research. This includes large scale studies of national importance. This means primary research projects which:

• address an issue of major strategic importance to the NHS and social care, with the cost in line with the significance of the problem to be investigated
• are likely to lead to changes in practice that will have a significant impact on a large number of patients across the UK
• aim to fill a clear ‘evidence gap’, and are likely to generate new knowledge of direct relevance to the NHS and social care
• have the potential for findings to be applied to other conditions or situations outside the immediate area of research
• bring together a team with strong expertise and track record across the full range of relevant disciplines
• will be carried out across more than one research site

The HS&DR Programme will support

• research into any aspect of health and social care service quality, accessibility and effectiveness, as long as its importance to the NHS and social care can be clearly demonstrated
• any methodology as long as it is appropriate, proportionate and likely to answer the research questions – which must relate to health service and social care issues
• trials, pilot and feasibility studies on relevant topics, with the involvement of a Clinical Trials Unit if required. In the case of a trial, adequate preparatory work must be completed in order to justify need and feasibility

The HS&DR Programme will not support

• research for which there is not a strong and well demonstrated case for importance to the NHS/ social care
• research in a single site which is not likely to be generally applicable to other settings or patient groups
• basic scientific or epidemiological research on the causes of disease
• the testing of new health technologies or diagnostic techniques – these may fall within the remit of the HTA Programme
• the establishment of a database, as an end in itself. All studies must include specific research questions, and all data collection must directly contribute to answering these questions
• the setting-up or maintenance of research units
• proposals which are solely or mainly service developments, audits or needs assessments
• PhD studentships

Success rates

• success rates for HS&DR proposals

In this section you can read more on the people involved in the assessment of applications for the Health Services and Delivery Research (HS&DR) Programme, read the minutes of previous funding decisions and find out more about becoming a reviewer or a Committee member.

A large number of people are involved in assessing the research proposals received by the HS&DR Programme to ensure that the projects are assessed in a clear and fair way, embracing the latest expertise, knowledge and opinion.

Members of NIHR Committees are required to declare any interests which conflict, or may be considered to conflict, with NIHR business, or may be perceived as influencing decisions made in the course of their work within NIHR. All members are asked to complete the Register of Interest form (annually), which is intended to capture long term predictable interests that could be perceived to lead to conflicts of interest. These and other interests are judged on a case by case basis at individual meetings.

Our Director

Professor Jo Rycroft-Malone

Watch the latest director's message.

HS&DR Funding Committee

The HS&DR Funding Committee assesses stage 1 and 2 proposals received through the commissioned and researcher-led workstreams. At stage one, the committee considers applications primarily for need and importance, and at stage two primarily for scientific quality and value for money. The committee is composed of experts from a range of disciplines relevant to health and social care delivery research, and public contributors. 

• list of HS&DR funding committee members.

Reviewers

Our community of reviewers play a vital part in maintaining and improving the quality of the HS&DR Programme projects and outputs. They are sought from a variety of fields, including from those who work in and use health and social care services.

To demonstrate our gratitude to our reviewers, and acknowledge the important work they do for the programme, the names of the past year’s reviewers are listed below.

• list of HS&DR reviewers.

We offer a wide variety of assistance during all stages of the research process. If in doubt, please get in touch.

For help with applying for HS&DR funding:

Tel: 023 8059 4304
Email: hsdrinfo@nihr.ac.uk

• Do you need help getting started? Contact the Research Design Service
• Do you need assistance running your study in the NHS? Contact the Study Support Service

Fast-track scheme

 Most research supported by the HS&DR Programme will follow the normal two-stage process of assessment before being funded. However, it may sometimes be necessary to accelerate the handling of a topic and in such circumstances researchers may be eligible to apply through the fast-track scheme.

The fast-track scheme provides an opportunity to submit a stage 2 proposal directly, shortening the length of time it takes for a funding decision to be made.  However, please bear in mind that proposals accepted onto the fast-track scheme will be considered on equal terms with other stage 2 proposals which have had the benefit of feedback by the Research Funding Committee at stage 1.

If you would like your proposal to be considered for the fast-track scheme, please contact hsdrinfo@nihr.ac.uk. You will be asked to:

• convince the secretariat that there is significant benefit to fast-tracking your application, and

• submit a written summary of your proposal (usually about one side of A4) in a PICO format if appropriate and/or describe the study briefly in terms of aims, research questions, outcome measures, scale, PPI, inclusion, stakeholder engagement, outputs and dissemination.

The information you provide will then be considered, and you will be informed whether your proposal is eligible for fast-tracking. If it is, you will be provided with more information about submitting your stage 2 application, and the timescales for doing this.