About us
What we do
We exist to advance medical research, improve human health and change people’s lives. You can help us do it.
WHAT WE FUND
Osteoporosis
Changing Policy and Practice
Every year over 500,000 older people in the UK break a bone due to osteoporosis with substantial impacts on health, mobility and independence, costing the UK economy over £5 billion annually.
With funding from the Medical Research Council (MRC), Professor Harvey and the team carried out the SCOOP trial, which demonstrated that routinely assessing fracture risk in older women at their GP surgeries reduced the risk of hip fractures by 30 per cent over five years. If such an approach were implemented nationwide, researchers believe it would prevent 8,000 hip fractures every year.
Working with the UK Royal Osteoporosis Society, Professor Harvey aims to disseminate the findings of this trial, undertaking a wide-ranging consultation to gather evidence and produce a new policy report supporting the adoption of the identification of individuals at high fracture risk in primary care. The report will be presented to the UK Screening Programme Committee and National Institute for Health and Care Excellence, with the aim of altering UK policy and standards of care.
We are hugely grateful to the Foundation for their support of this important work, which gives us a real opportunity to alter UK policy in a way that would achieve a step change in our ability to detect individuals at high fracture risk in the community and thus prevent potentially life changing outcomes in older people. Professor Nicholas Harvey
Changing Policy and Practice Award
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Why is research dissemination important?
Changing Policy and Practice Awards provide support for the dissemination of MRC and Medical Research Foundation-funded research results beyond the traditional vehicles of journal publications and academic conference presentations.
The broader aim is to influence healthcare and behaviour, by taking the latest research evidence directly to patients, practitioners and policymakers.
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We fund and support the most promising health research wherever we discover great opportunities that are not being pursued. We use our donations responsibly and ensure we make the greatest impact where it is most needed.
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Thanks to you, our researchers are improving human health, changing lives, and giving hope to people with overlooked and underfunded health conditions.
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