The use of Operational Research within NIHR CLAHRCs Seminar

The National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) funds thirteen Collaborations for Leadership in Applied Health Research and Care (CLAHRC) across England. The CLAHRCs were conceived to address the gap in the translation of research into clinical practice and in general are made up of health services researchers and clinical academics. This talk will provide an overview of the growing use of Operational Research in the CLAHRCs and in particular Wessex CLAHRC. The type of modelling work undertaken by CLAHRCs will be illustrated with an overview of a discrete-event simulation project in emergency stroke care in Exeter. Emergency stroke care is an area where there is a large body of clinical evidence supporting the efficacy of time sensitive drug interventions, however, internationally hospitals have struggled to effectively implement the evidence. The talk will discuss the modelling process, simulated results and if there is any evidence that the modelling was implemented or influenced hospital operations. The talk will conclude with an overview of potential collaborative modelling projects at Wessex CLAHRC.