UK’s largest health research programme launches in Wales

Our Future Health, the UK’s largest health research programme, is opening clinics across Wales from 24 September, offering over 70,000 appointments across Wales over the next year.

The first Welsh clinics will be at Boots stores in Bridgend, Cardiff, Merthyr Tydfil, Swansea and Wrexham, with around 20 clinics planned to open across Wales by September 2025.

Our Future Health aims to transform the prevention, detection and treatment of conditions such as dementia, cancer, diabetes, heart disease and stroke. With up to five million volunteers right across the UK, the goal is to create one of the most detailed pictures ever of people’s health.

At their clinic appointment, as well as having a blood sample and some physical measurements taken, volunteers will be offered information about their own health, including their blood pressure and cholesterol levels. In the future, volunteers will also be given the option to receive feedback about their risk of some diseases and have the opportunity to take part in cutting-edge research studies.  

The proportion of the adult Welsh population living with a major illness is estimated to increase from almost 1 in 6 in 2019 to nearly 1 in 5 by 2040. This would mean that in Wales the number of people living with major illness is estimated to increase to 556,000 by 2040; an increase of 137,000 which is more than a third.* Our Future Health aims to learn more about how diseases can be prevented, detected and treated in Wales.

The programme is sending invitations to people who live near the new clinics. Anyone over the age of 18 can join by signing up online at ourfuturehealth.org.uk, completing an online health questionnaire, and booking a short clinic appointment.

Our Future Health clinic locations can be viewed on an interactive map.

Rhodri Thomas, Head of British Heart Foundation Cymru, said: “We are delighted to welcome the first clinics in the Our Future Health programme to Wales.  The opportunity to use health data for research will help us to better understand heart and circulatory disease, which currently affects around 340,000 people in Wales. In addition, the information collected could help us find new ways to prevent, detect and fight these devastating diseases earlier.”

Dr Raghib Ali, Chief Executive and Chief Medical Officer of Our Future Health, said: “Our Future Health is a programme for the whole of the UK and so we’re delighted to be launching recruitment in Wales. We will be inviting people in Wales to join our programme, giving them the opportunity to learn more about their own health and help to improve the health of everyone in Wales and reduce inequalities. Researchers in Wales will also be able to apply to use our resource to make new discoveries about diseases, including those that pose significant challenges in Wales.”

Chief Medical Officer for Wales, Sir Frank Atherton, said: “We’re delighted to welcome the Our Future Health programme to Wales. As the UK’s largest ever health research programme, this research will help researchers find ways to prevent, detect and treat diseases earlier which has the potential to improve healthcare and outcomes for the population in Wales and right across the UK.”

Director of Health and Care Research Wales, Professor Kieran Walshe said: “We welcome the news that clinics are now opening in Wales as part of this pioneering programme. During the pandemic we saw the power of a collective effort to find solutions to tackle COVID-19. Our Future Health galvanises the same power by asking volunteers across Wales to participate, to better understand a range of health conditions which will lead to prevention, earlier diagnosis and more targeted treatments.”

Our Future Health is working closely with important groups within the health care system in Wales, including Primary Care Networks and health boards. We will continue to engage with these groups to help us shape the direction of the programme.

Our Future Health is rolling out on a region-by-region basis to invite adults across the UK to join the programme. Volunteers who don’t live near a location where Our Future Health appointments are currently available can join now at ourfuturehealth.org.uk and be notified when new appointment locations become available. Many people across Wales have previously registered and can now attend an appointment.

New locations will be announced on the Our Future Health website and social media channels.  

Our Future Health is an ambitious collaboration between the public sector, life sciences companies and leading UK health charities including: Action Against Age-related Macular Degeneration, Alzheimer’s Society, Asthma + Lung UK, Blood Cancer UK, Brain Tumour Research, Breast Cancer Now, British Heart Foundation, Cancer Research UK, DEBRA, Diabetes UK, Fight for Sight, Kidney Research UK, LifeArc, Macular Society, Pancreatic Cancer UK, Parkinson’s UK, Prostate Cancer Research, Prostate Cancer UK, Royal Osteoporosis Society, Stroke Association, and Versus Arthritis. Our Future Health was set up with funding from the UKRI’s Accelerating Detection of Disease Challenge, delivered by Innovate UK.

*www.gov.wales/sites/default/files/publications/2024-07/estimated-burden-of-disease-in-2040.pdf