SALISBURY NHS Foundation Trust is to benefit from a share of new funding for health research.

The National Institute for Health Research, the research arm of the NHS, has awarded £9million to create a new organisation called ARC Wessex.

The chief executive of Salisbury NHS Foundation, Cara Charles-Barks, said: ‘It is excellent news that £9 million over the next five years has been secured to carry out health research. Salisbury NHS Foundation Trust’s backing for the bid helped gain this funding and this money will allow clinicians across our region to conduct valuable research. I am convinced that every penny spent on research will help improve health and well-being of people in Salisbury and the surrounding area.’

ARCs – Applied Research Collaborations – are teams of researchers working together to solve some of the big health issues in their communities.

There are 15 in England and the Wessex region covers Dorset, Hampshire, the Isle of Wight and South Wiltshire.

The team in Wessex is spread across four universities, NHS Trusts and local authorities, with doctors, nurses, health professionals and care staff working with academics to find practical solutions for patients and health and care systems. Applied health research is research that seeks an answer to a question in the real world and to solve a problem.

Salisbury District Hospital is working with researchers from the Universities of Portsmouth, Southampton, Bournemouth, Ulster and international experts from Canada.

It will have a share of £50,000 in its first year to see if health and activity websites and apps can help people with long term illness, like diabetes, stroke, asthma or arthritis to become more active and exercise to help them manage the effect of the illness.