About us

Striving for excellence

Our research is conducted to the highest standards of excellence and is informed by the views and priorities of our patients, their carers and clinical colleagues.

Participation in Trust research is a rewarding and positive experience, and is fully integrated within the caring, safe and excellent standard clinical care that Oxford Health provides.

The Research and Development (R&D) department encompasses:

• Research Governance and Support Team
• Clinical Research Facility (CRF) team
• Research delivery teams (Community, Mental Health and Memory and Cognition)

The department is based at the Warneford Hospital, Oxford. Research and Development is at the heart of Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust.

We believe in the benefits of research to improve patient care, and on average have more than 100 studies open at any one time – ranging from small student projects to psychological interventions, to highly complex clinical trials of new medicines.

Our Research

Areas of research that we support cover a wide number of conditions, including dementia, bipolar disorder, depression and psychosis and we are looking for opportunities to increase research in community-based non-mental health areas.

Our study activity is conducted in a variety of environments – including clinical services, patients’ homes, care homes and the Oxford Health Clinical Research Facility (OH CRF), situated on the Warneford Hospital site.

The OH CRF receives funding from the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) and in partnership with the University of Oxford, the OH CRF delivers patient-orientated non-commercial and commercial early phase experimental clinical research that has the potential to discover new ways of understanding and treating cognitive health challenges.

Collaboration

The Trust works closely with the University of Oxford Department of Psychiatry, which is also based on the Warneford site, and the Nuffield Department of Primary Care Health Sciences.  The Department of Psychiatry is a national leader in the advancement of research into a variety of psychiatric conditions and their respective treatments.

In 2016 Oxford Health and the University of Oxford were successful in their bid for a Biomedical Research Centre (BRC) dedicated to translating innovative research into better treatments for mental and brain health disorders. For the 5 years since 2021 the Oxford Health BRC  received over £40m in funding from the NIHR for 11 research Themes focused on brain and mental health.  The Oxford Health BRC collaborates with 13 additional partner university and NHS Trusts across England to deliver research.

In 2011 the NIHR Oxford Health Clinical Research Facility (OH-CRF) opened on the Warneford site. This is a single managed entity hosted by Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust (OHFT). The OH-CRF forms an integral part of the OH BRC and is the only NIHR supported CRF dedicated to mental health.

The Trust also hosts the NIHR Applied Research Collaboration Oxford and Thames Valley (ARC) which carries out applied health research that will have a direct impact on patient health and well-being and the NIHR Community Healthcare MedTech and In vitro diagnostics Co-operative (MIC).