Health Technology Assessment

What does the funding stream focus on?

Large trials of the effectiveness and cost effectiveness of new treatments and technologies compared with the best available care in real healthcare settings.

Funding Stream Key Information

HTA Key Information

Director: Professor Andrew Farmer (from June Professor Anthony Gordon)

Aim: To determine the effectiveness, costs and broader impact of healthcare treatments and tests in a real life NHS settings. The purpose of an HTA study is to establish the clinical and cost-effectiveness of technologies in comparison with the current best alternative(s). “Technologies” include procedures, drugs, devices, diagnostic tests, settings of care and screening programmes.

Funding: Commissioned and researcher-led. No fixed limits on duration or funding (can be several £million).

Funding Panel Observations

Summary of Panel Observation Tips

Applicants need to provide evidence for the likely effectiveness of the intervention
Quality of life indicators are very important especially where there are co-morbidities
HTA is the largest of the NIHR programmes and the last stage in the translational pathway

Latest Dates

Funding Deadlines

Call	Webinar	Outline submission deadline	Outcome date	Full submission deadline	Outcome date
Swiss-UK investigator-led randomised controlled clinical trials in areas of unmet clinical need		9 September 25
Care, support, and rehabilitation for patients with brain tumours		7 May 25	July 25	September 25	December 25
HTA Programme researcher-led primary research		7 May 25	July 25	September 25	December 25
Health Technology Assessment (HTA) Programme Researcher-led (evidence synthesis)		7 May 25	July 25	September 25	December 25
NIHR NICE rolling funding opportunity (HTA Programme)		7 May 25	July 25	September 25	December 25
NIHR James Lind Alliance Priority Setting Partnerships rolling funding opportunity (HTA Programme)		7 May 25	July 25	September 25	December 25
The effectiveness of technologies for people living with deafblindness in social care settings		2 April 25	May 25	17 July 25	Oct 25
Ambitious data-enabled ‘e-trials’		2 April 25	May 25	17 July 25	Oct 25
Selective decontamination of the digestive tract in children and young people receiving mechanical ventilation		2 April 25	May 25	17 July 25	Oct 25
Therapies for women, children and others who experience domestic abuse		2 April 25	May 25	17 July 25	Oct 25
Higher-calorie refeeding compared with lower-calorie refeeding in malnourished adults with anorexia nervosa		2 April 25	May 25	17 July 25	Oct 25
Improving outcomes for children and young people in care using interventions that combine mentoring with skills training: A feasibility study		2 April 25	May 25	17 July 25	Oct 25
Australia-UK platform studies in areas of unmet clinical need		23 July 25	Oct 25	27 Nov 25	Feb 26

Example

HTA Examples

StudY of Mirtazapine or carBamazepine for Agitation in Dementia (SYMBAD)

Funding: £2.1m, 2015-2020

Aim: To assess the clinical and cost-effectiveness of mirtazapine or carbamazepine (all with usual care) on agitated behaviours in dementia through a pragmatic multi-centre double-blind placebo-controlled randomised controlled trial.

Other HTA Examples

Evaluation of the clinical and cost-effectiveness of art therapy for people with non-psychotic mental disorders
A pragmatic adaptive sequential placebo controlled randomised trial to determine the effectiveness of Glyceryl trinitrate for retained placenta (Got-it trial)
A randomised comparison of the Fenix® magnetic anal sphincter versus sacral nerve stimulation for adult faecal incontinence
A multicentre randomised controlled trial comparing laparoscopic supra-cervical hysterectomy with second generation endometrial ablation for the treatment of heavy menstrual bleeding (HEALTH)