The Manchester Academic Health Science Centre MAHSC Neuroscience Research Domain will pool academic expertise in neuroscience from across Greater Manchester, maximising the opportunities to discover new research which can be developed and deployed at scale across the city-region for the benefit of our population

The goal of the Greater Manchester Health and Social Care Partnership (GMHSCP) and Health Innovation Manchester is “to see the greatest and fastest possible improvement to the health, wealth and wellbeing of the 2.8 million people in the towns and cities of Greater Manchester” and “to be a recognised international leader in accelerating innovation that transforms citizens’ health and well being”.

Greater Manchester faces a number of health challenges. The population is ageing, and the region has significant health inequalities, both compared with England as a whole, but also between local authorities within GM. Life expectancy is below the national average. Across the life course, risk factors that lead to illness and reduced life expectancy are worse than the national average, and a higher proportion of adults report having a long-term condition or disability.

A significant proportion of these long-term conditions are neurological disease and disability. In the UK, there are now an estimated 16.5 million neurological cases, equating to at least 1 in 6 people living with one or more neurological conditions. Over 1.6 million people were admitted to hospital with a neurological condition in 2016/17, an increase of 24% compared with 5 years previously and the NHS spends £4.4bn each year on people with neurological conditions. There has been a 39% increase in neurological deaths from 2001 to 2014, compared with a 6% decrease in all cause deaths in the same period.

The MAHSC Neuroscience Research Domain will ensure alignment with these priorities by developing a Task and Finish group, reporting to the Strategy and with the stated aims for the population of starting well, living well and ageing well.

Key neuroscience partners across Greater Manchester have highly successful commercial research portfolios, working with pharmaceutical, medical technology and biotechnology companies around the world. We have been selected as a prime/premier site by a number of companies. The commercial neurology portfolio in Greater Manchester is the largest in the country, delivering high quality pharmaceutical studies to time and target, with a particular expertise in MS, epilepsy, Parkinsons and other movement disorders. Our strategy is focused on continuing to build and strengthen our partnerships with industry, and be viewed as an automatic choice for site selection.

We will build on this experience, and fully utilise the knowledge and resources within Health Innovation Manchester to develop this aspect of the domain.