Mental Health

The Mental Health Theme is led by Prof Ian Anderson and Prof Tony Morrison and works closely with the North West Mental Health Research Hub in promoting and recruiting to, mental health NIHR Portfolio Studies in Greater Manchester. The Trusts involved in Mental Health Research include:

• the three secondary care provider Trusts of adult Psychiatric services in Greater Manchester: Manchester Mental Health and Social Care NHS Trust, Greater Manchester West Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust and Pennine Care NHS Foundation Trust
• Central Manchester University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust covering Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAHMS) and
• Primary Care Trusts for Mental Health Research in primary care.
• The Theme has a high proportion of studies that involve complex and interventional research.

The Mental Health Portfolio in Greater Manchester is buoyant, largely thanks to the strong academic partnership with the University of Manchester and close links with regional, national and international academic partners. The studies we support cover:

• Children’s, adult and old age services
• a diverse range of disorder areas and
• a broad range of settings including primary care, secondary care, social care and the criminal justice system.

The Mental Health theme is committed to service user involvement and we have a number of active service user researchers.

We have some key goals and priorities over the coming few years to help meet the Higher Level Objectives of the GM CLRN which include:

1. Building on the working relationships we have developed between the MHRN and R&D departments to share knowledge and skills, including engaging more with CAHMS and Primary Care Trusts
2. Working to identify and support more clinicians in getting involved in research
3. Maximising the proportion of active researchers engaged in Portfolio Research
4. Increasing the efficiency of recruitment both in current Trusts but also working with the R&D departments to look at new sources of recruitment such as Patient Identification Centres.
5. Starting to get commercial studies on the Mental Health Portfolio for Greater Manchester.