NCA Research & Innovation

10/12/2025

Congratulations to Dr Amy Woods, senior clinical gastroenterology fellow in intestinal failure at Northern Care Alliance NHS Foundation Trust , who was awarded the best oral presentation at the annual BAPEN (British Association for Parenteral and Enteral Nutrition) Conference, for her work on hidden disabilities in people dependent on long-term home parenteral nutrition. This was the first work of its kind in the field and demonstrates the challenges faced by people living with intestinal failure in their day-to-day lives.
Well done also to Simon Harrison, specialist pharmacist in intestinal failure, for his work on mapping the pharmacy workforce in intestinal failure. He and Uchu Meade, pharmacist from St Mark’s Hospital, London, were awarded the best poster presentation.

03/12/2025

Congratulations to Andrew McDonough, who has been appointed as Northern Care Alliance NHS Foundation Trust trauma, orthopaedic and plastic surgery research lead. The consultant physiotherapist is currently in year two of his professional doctorate in health, which will focus on the barriers and enablers to the implementation of orthopaedic research in the trauma setting. He is especially interested in why large pragmatic trials fail to influence clinical practice.
His past research has included work on urgent treatment centres that provided compelling evidence for workforce diversification in these settings, longitudinal research on virtual fracture clinics, and improving diagnostic accuracy in musculoskeletal conditions such as cauda equina syndrome and scaphoid fractures. He also has expertise in sports medicine and injury prevention.

02/12/2025

The first NHS Domestic Abuse Awareness Day takes place on Wednesday 10 December. It is being launched by The Doctors' Association UK and Medical Women's Federation.
The day highlights the urgent need to recognise and respond to domestic abuse affecting NHS staff, and to recognise the unique barriers they can face seeking help.
This link can signpost you to support:

More than one in five of us in England and Wales has experienced domestic abuse. For a range of reasons, healthcare professionals may experience domestic abuse at especially high rates and face a number of profession-specific barriers to recognising abuse and getting support. Healthcare workplaces g...

01/12/2025

Congratulations to our wonderful interns from Manchester Metropolitan University, who have been recognised in their Placement Awards - Portia Banda received the Autonomous Achiever Award and Celina Mahenzi received an honourable mention in the Careers Confidence Award.
During their 12 month placement with us, they made a huge contribution to the work of delivering clinical research to patients at Northern Care Alliance NHS Foundation Trust .
Both worked across a diverse portfolio of research projects including work with Petra Hamerlik and her team who are researching biomarkers that could allow for earlier, more accurate, and non-invasive diagnosis of brain tumours as well as work with Dr Sean Knight on a project looking at the effect of flu/Covid on the immune system.
More than 500 students take up a placement post while studying at the university and only a few make it to the award ceremony. We are so proud of Celina and Portia's achievements.
It was also an opportunity to celebrate Northern Care Alliance having been awarded Employer of Choice by the university as a result of the support that we give to our student interns.

01/12/2025

Such an important initiative and one we're delighted to support at Northern Care Alliance NHS Foundation Trust.

COLO-SPEED is an ambitious initiative funded by the Sir Bobby Robson Foundation and the Parabola Foundation. Together, we are building the world’s largest pl...

28/11/2025

We're proud that Northern Care Alliance NHS Foundation Trust is active in research to find new ways to improve the diagnosis, treatment and care of people with motor neurone disease (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis).
This is some of the we've received recently from people with MND for our dedicated neurology research team:
• The whole experience was very easy and the staff very helpful, friendly and courteous at all times. I was happy with the whole experience.
• Each session I have attended I feel that my participation has been of value and valued by the staff.
• All medical staff have treated me with kindness and consideration both to my well-being and for participating on the study.

25/11/2025

Our Care Organisation research team are hugely grateful to research star of the month Iain Jones, a biomedical scientist who's played a vital part in the NAZA study, processing peripheral blood mononuclear cell samples. This is a test we wouldn't be able to do without him because it requires specialist knowledge, precision, and experience. Iain has been flexible and accommodating, going above and beyond to ensure a positive patient experience. Often for this study, patients are referred last minute, and Iain has continuously ensured his availability, from changing his shift pattern or coordinating with staff and managers to change site location. Thank you Iain!

23/11/2025

We're involved in a new study which is seeking adults with NF2-SWN and skin tumors . The research, funded by , will help researchers evaluate two promising drug candidates that could one day lead to new treatments.
📧 Learn more: ctf.org/NF2SWNstudy

21/11/2025

Thank you to all the participants in our Northern Care Alliance NHS Foundation Trust study looking at the role respiratory infections such as long covid play in persistently changing the immune system. We've had some wonderful about the inpatient research delivery team who support the study:
• The team have always been very friendly, polite and professional.
• Good staff, always polite and very welcoming - all is great.
• The staff are always pleasant and informative, they explain each step and why it's being done and I always receive an email for the next visit.
• I can contribute for research and help to find out how covid works for long periods after the person gets infected. Also I can speak about my health and illness and worries with the staff without any shame. I think everything is going well.

20/11/2025

Neurosurgery registrar at Northern Care Alliance NHS Foundation Trust Abdurrahman Islim has co-led a research study looking at a tool developed to predict whether the most common type of brain tumour, meningioma, will grow or cause symptoms, to help clinicians make better-informed decisions in patient care.

It's great to see the results have now been published in JAMA Oncology - read more on our website https://www.ncaresearch.org.uk/news/new-tool-helps-predict-brain-tumours-require-treatment/

19/11/2025

Congratulations to neurosurgeon Miss Saba Raza-Knight from Northern Care Alliance NHS Foundation Trust who has been awarded the Norman Dott Gold Medal for the most outstanding performance in the FRCS neurosurgery board exam.
The award means she will receive an invitation to visit the Barrow Neurological Institute, Phoenix, Arizona for up to six weeks and to attend the American Association of Neurological Surgeons congress.
Salford's clinical director for neurosurgery Professor Omar Pathmanaban, himself a previous winner of the Norman Dott Medal, said: "We are blessed to have an abundance of incredibly talented and devoted trainee neurosurgeons at Manchester Centre for Clinical Neurosciences and Saba's incredible achievement is testament to her hard work and talent and the extraordinary breadth and depth of experience offered in our training programme."

19/11/2025

The GM Care Record is a real asset for research too!