Portsmouth Hospitals University NHS Trust Strategic Partnership
We have a long-running strategic partnership with Portsmouth Hospitals University (PHU) NHS Trust. The partnership aims to enhance clinical and academic excellence, and improve the health and wellbeing of local communities.
To achieve excellence in collaborative education, training and innovation, the partnership supports new capacity, projects and infrastructure. It also supports the sharing of education and training opportunities to benefit staff and students.
The strategic partnership supports a number of collaborative projects between the University and Portsmouth Hospitals — including projects specialising in new healthcare technologies and their application.
Current partnerships projects
The Portsmouth Technologies Trials Unit (PTTU) is a collaboration between our researchers and Portsmouth Hospitals University NHS Trust (PHU). The unit specialises in providing the skilled staff and infrastructure needed to develop and deliver clinical research projects — including clinical trials in new healthcare technologies.
PTTU supports research studies at all stages, including study development and grant applications, trial set-up and delivery, and patient, public and community engagement.
The partnership has won multiple awards, including the Award for Excellence in Public and Patient Involvement from the NIHR Clinical Research Network Wessex.
This partnerships benefits patients and the community by:
- Providing the skilled staff and infrastructure needed to develop and deliver high-quality clinical research projects
- Sending Patient Research Ambassadors (PRAs) to share their experience with patients and increase understanding of the research opportunities available
- Holding research awareness events and research clinics
- Representing patients in their meetings with small to medium sized enterprises (SMEs)
SIGHT is a programme developed by the University to assist small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs) in the healthcare technology sector, and engage with them through the Portsmouth Technologies Trials Unit (PTTU). The programme benefits from the clinical and academic expertise of our researchers and our delivery partners, Portsmouth Hospitals University NHS Trust (PHU) and the Clinical Research Network Wessex.
The £1.7m programme is part-funded by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) and works collaboratively with industry partners, patient groups, clinicians and academics to provide quicker access to groundbreaking healthcare technologies.
The partnerships benefits business by:
- Giving SMEs access to clinicians and patient groups
- Sector specific support, information and guidance to enable growth in regional/national and international markets
- Quarterly business innovation engagement workshops
- Bespoke advice to help overcome regulatory barriers that currently limit opportunities to expand into new markets
- Providing financial grant scheme for SMEs to access additional support
On the CoBra project, we work in collaboration with Université de Lille, Portsmouth Hospitals University NHS Trust (PHU), SATT Nord, Technische Universiteit Delft, Oncovet, Demcon, Eurasanté and Centre Oscar Lambret. The main goal of the project is to improve a patient's quality of life and reduce chances of fatality due to prostate cancer.
CoBra aims to develop a new medical robot prototype for brachytherapy (a type of radiation therapy used to treat prostate cancer patients) and biopsy guided by CT (computed tomography) or MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) scanners.
The aim of the medical robot prototype is to improve the quality of diagnosis and treatment of localised cancers in patients in the 2 Seas area. This area includes the coastal regions of England, France, Belgium (Flanders) and the Netherlands.
The partnership benefits:
- Patients who often need to travel outside the 2 Seas region to access appropriate brachytherapy treatment
- Practitioners and physicists through training on MRI based robotic brachytherapy and biopsy