King’s College receives £12 million in funding from the Department of Health.
Paul Wicks
It was celebratory cups of academic-strength coffee all round in Camberwell earlier this month. The South London and Maudsley Foundation Trust (SLaM) and the Institute of Psychiatry (IoP) at King’s College London received £12 million from a Department of Health pot of £45 million for medical research. The money was secured through six successful bids to the Best Research for Best Health strategy programme.
SLaM Director of Research and Development, Graham Thornicroft, welcomed the news: “These awards will allow us to accelerate our applied research to bring greater benefits for people with mental disorders via these new evidence-based initiatives for policy and practice.”
Applied research to produce effective treatments
The grants will be directed at conditions that can cause long-term disability and have a major impact on the national economy. Programmes supported at the IOP include a £1.9 million anorexia nervosa study headed by Ulrike Schmidt. “Anorexia nervosa causes major physical, emotional and social disability and the strain on sufferers and their families is tremendous,” she said. “In five years time we hope to have new treatments for anorexia that make a lasting and positive difference to the lives of sufferers and their families.” As well as introducing web-based early detection and intervention tools, the project will focus on the needs of those with the most severe form of the illness, and on specialist areas such as mothers with eating disorders and women with reproductive problems.
The other programmes will be headed by:
• Professor Declan Murphy
ADHD and autism in young adults are often unrecognised and untreated. This programme will develop better diagnostic instruments, services, and treatments for this group. “This is exciting news and cements a research partnership between a multidisciplinary team of researchers, affected individuals and their families,” said Prof. Murphy.
• Professor Robin Murray
Cannabis use and obesity are common among people with psychosis. The former often results in relapse while the latter can lead to diabetes and early death. This programme will establish the optimum way of decreasing their frequency and thus improving the psychological and physical health of sufferers.
• Professor Graham Thornicroft
This project aims to produce hard evidence of how to increase access to treatment for people with mental illnesses, and how to reduce stigmatisation in employment, and in physical health care.
• Professor André Tylee
According to Prof. Tylee: “Coronary heart disease and depression are set to be the two most burdensome conditions worldwide over the next decade and seem to be linked in many ways (e.g. there is some suggestion that improving depression may improve cardiac state).” Tylee’s team will investigate such links and develop new integrated care approaches for patients.
• Professor Til Wykes
This programme specifically targets inpatient care. The aim is to improve the therapeutic environment in hospitals through changes in the organisation and structure of wards. One novelty is the specific inclusion of both patients and staff in the research team who will help to design a programme of change that will be sustainable and can be rolled out across the country.
The fight against mental illness and brain disorders
The IoP was founded in 1923. Research accounts for 70% of its income, and in the most recent Research Assessment Exercise it achieved the 5* top rating.
Members of the IoP have helped to counsel victims of the 1998 Omagh bomb, as well as the 2005 London terrorist attacks. Current projects include the training of mental health staff from countries worldwide, the potential for stem cells in treating motor neurone disease, and the effects of mobile phones on health.
Welcoming the new injection of funds for the next five years Prof. Thornicroft added, “At last mental health is being recognised in proportion to its public health impact”.