Health and Care Research Wales’ sixth birthday: a message from Professor Kieran Walshe

As we reach the milestone of Health and Care Research Wales’ sixth birthday, I would like to reflect on what we have achieved as a research community in Wales this year. 

During the pandemic, we can be proud of how quickly we responded to the need for research into effective care for patients with COVID-19. We collaborated with partners across the UK and internationally to develop and test vaccines and treatments in Wales with remarkable efficiency and rigour. 

We have now supported the study setup and recruitment of participants to four vaccine trials, including Oxford/AstraZeneca, Janssen, Novavax and Medicago, as well as multiple urgent public health studies across the whole of Wales. The hope of new treatments and an effective vaccine inspired more than 36,000 people in Wales to participate in this ground-breaking research. 

Hundreds of people who were seriously ill with COVID-19 had their genetic code studied to help researchers understand their susceptibility to the virus as part of the UK-wide GenOMICC project. The Secure Anonymised Information Linkage (SAIL) Databank has also played a key role in making COVID-19 study data securely available to researchers around the world. 

Keeping up with the growing body of evidence on COVID-19 created a new challenge for researchers, health and social care workers and policymakers. This led to Health and Care Research Wales establishing the new £3 million Wales COVID-19 Evidence Centre based at Cardiff University, which seeks to co-ordinate and prioritise this knowledge.  

Looking to the future, there is much that we have learned from the pandemic that we can build on. The new UK vision for clinical research delivery sets out plans for an NHS that makes research an essential part of patient care, and empowers all health and care staff to support research as part of their job. Wales has proven it can play a key role in delivering world-leading research and this will only grow with deeper collaboration across sectors and the four nations of the UK. 

So again, I am saying thank you for your dedication and hard work. 

After what has been a busy and unpredictable sixth year for Health and Care Research Wales, we know that our work supporting and delivering research has never been so important. On our birthday, I hope everyone at Health and Care Research Wales and in our research community can take a moment to feel proud of the vital role you have played in fighting this pandemic and improving the health of people in Wales, the rest of the UK, and beyond. 

Professor Kieran Walshe, Director of Health and Care Research Wales