GPRF to close next March

Due to the changing landscape of primary care research in the UK, the MRC has decided to discontinue funding for the General Practice Research Framework (GPRF) at the end of March 2012, at which time the unit will close.

When the Department of Health established the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) in 2006, funding for primary care research became the remit of the Institute, with the MRC retaining responsibility for methodological and aetiological studies. UK primary care research is also supported by the NIHR Primary Care Research Network in England, the Scottish Primary Care Research Network, the Northern Ireland Clinical Research Network and the National Institute for Social Care and Health Research Clinical Research Centre in Wales. 

The GPRF has an excellent track record over 30 years of facilitating and delivering primary care research through its network of practices but the time has come to integrate the function of GPRF into NIHR and the national primary care research networks (PCRNs), so that there is a “one stop” infrastructure for primary care research.  

We have invited those GPRF practices with whom we have been actively involved to engage with their relevant national body and many have already expressed an interest in engaging with the PCRNs.

For further information, please contact please contact Tamsin d'Estrube on 020 7670 4886