4 December 2017
Dr Will Man, consultant physician at Harefield Hospital, has been awarded £346,500 for a randomised controlled trial to compare different ways of delivering pulmonary rehabilitation - a programme of exercise, education, and support to help patients with chronic lung conditions.
Funded by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) as part of their Research for Patient Benefit (RfPB) programme, the study will look at people with chronic lung disease who have been referred to receive pulmonary rehabilitation (PR). Patients in the study will be randomly assigned to either a PR class that uses minimal exercise equipment or a PR class that uses specialist exercise equipment. The aim is to determine whether minimal equipment classes are as good as those that use specialist equipment in terms of the overall effects on exercise capacity, breathlessness and quality of life on those taking part.
Dr Will Man said: “We’re really grateful to the NIHR for recognising that our study has the potential to answer an important healthcare delivery question. This was a real team effort with substantial contributions from the Harefield pulmonary rehabilitation team, one of the best clinical services in the UK, the Harefield Breathing Support patient group, the King’s Clinical Trials Unit as well as my research team.”
RfPB grants are awarded to research studies which generate research evidence to improve, expand and strengthen the way that healthcare is delivered for patients, the public and the NHS, with clear and obvious benefit for patients.
Dr Man was previously the recipient of another RfPB award in 2014 which allowed him and his team to develop a video intervention designed to encourage patients with COPD to take up pulmonary rehabilitation after a hospital admission.
This current award is yet another achievement for Dr Will Man and his research team with successful awards and accolades including several awards at this year’s American Thoracic Society conference, where Dr Man was the first UK recipient of a Career Achievement Award, and his team picking up several other awards between them. Dr Man was also a recipient of the Royal College of Physicians Clinical Research Network award which recognises outstanding research leadership in the NHS.
Dr Jenny Rivers, associate director for research at Royal Brompton & Harefield NHS Foundation Trust said: “We are extremely proud of Will and his fantastic multi-disciplinary research team. Their funded research programmes have transformational potential in terms of patient outcomes and the external recognition they have received for their contribution to research in this area is very well deserved.”
Dr Man is also currently involved in a research study funded by the NIHR Health Services and Delivery Research programme, in collaboration with King’s College, looking at a comprehensive review of holistic breathlessness for people with malignant and non-malignant conditions, and a British Lung Foundation Project Award to study alternative rehabilitation interventions for patients with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis and severe breathlessness.
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