Page 46 - LSTM_AnnualReport1415

LSTM Annual
Report 2014/15

Clinical Partnerships

As clinical research, health services delivery and training continues

to grow LSTM’s expertise is increasingly called upon by the NHS and

international partners to improve the health of UK patients and the

world’s poorest communities.

Lung health & TB research
Nottingham feeding directly into a Royal College of Physicians’

toolkit and the national safe sta ng programme.
Chronic lung diseases, respiratory infection and tuberculosis
(TB) a ect people in the UK and worldwide. It is therefore Asthma attacks are
important for LSTM and the NHS to work in partnership to a signi cant source

develop new diagnostics and treatments for respiratory of mortality and
medicine.
morbidity. There is

currently no validated
LSTM works with the Royal assessment tool to
Liverpool University Hospital,
describe a person’s
the University Hospital individual risk of
Aintree and the Liverpool future attack. Dr
Heart and Chest Hospital
Blakey and colleagues
and in association with
produced the Asthma
Liverpool Health Partners and NIHR Clinical Research Network:
UK“TripleATest”for
North West Coast. This collaborative research targets the best risk assessment (>40,000 completions on-line this year). This
methods of reducing susceptibility to infections such as TB and
work has been advanced by a study of over 118,000 individuals
pneumococcal disease and non-communicable conditions with asthma presented at the European Respiratory Society
such as asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.
meeting. Related work with LSTM PhD student Cristina Ardura-

Pneumonia
Garcia has extended this research to children in low-middle
income settings with presentations at the American Thoracic

The Experimental Human Pneumococcal Carriage (EHPC) Society, World Allergy Organization and the Association for the
collaboration is recruiting volunteers for a study examining
Advancement of Arti cial Intelligence (AAAI) Conference 2015.

the e ect of a new nasal spray u vaccination on the carriage
of pneumococcal bacteria in the nose. The collaboration Improvements in Access to TB Care and Treatment

between LSTM and the Royal Liverpool Hospital has attracted Tuberculosis (TB) is a contagious and often severe airborne
a grant of £2.3m from the UK’s Medical Research Council which disease caused by a bacterial infection. Three million of the
will see the EHPC model utilised for vaccine development,
annually estimated 8.6 million cases of TB are missed by
understanding pneumococcal biology, looking at host healthcare services.
susceptibility and measuring mucosal immunity.

LSTM has developed and tested approaches to bring diagnosis
Innovations in Medical Care
and treatment for TB closer to the community. Researchers

Limited resources within the NHS have led to a pressing
from LSTM and the University of Warwick have found that
same-day diagnosis and close-to-community approaches
need to understand the actual activity patterns of hospital
lead to improvements in access to TB care and treatment,
sta in order to see if safety and e ciency can be improved.
Sta and patient activity needs to be studied in the context
and reductions in costs incurred during care-seeking by
poor patients in Malawi, Nigeria, Yemen, Ethiopia, Nepal and
of interactions with people, equipment and the built
environment. LSTM senior clinical lecturer Dr John Blakey and elsewhere.

collaborators at the University of Nottingham are endeavouring Professors Sally Theobald and Luis Cuevas led the research
to understand the relationship between activity and location
which has directly in uenced policy and local TB control
in hospitals. Health Foundation and charitable awards
programmes practice. The National TB Programme in Malawi
support this research in hospitals in Liverpool, Blackpool and
is engaging informal providers to recognise disease and refer

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