HOSPITALS in Oxfordshire will get a research cash boost of more than £100m which could save thousands of lives nationwide.

The money, which will be paid over five years, will fund trials into groundbreaking medicine and treatments for cancer, diabetes, heart disease and strokes.

The work will take place at the Oxford Biomedical Research Centre (BRC), a partnership between the Oxford Radcliffe Hospitals Trust and Oxford University.

Campaigners and patients last night welcomed the money, but one questioned how much of the research would be transformed into NHS treatments.

About £95m will be handed out in three separate awards from the National Institute of Health Research (NIHR).

It is part of £800m in funding announced by the Government to boost research and allow the development of better care for patients.

Prof Keith Channon, director of the Oxford BRC, said: “This gives us a clear endorsement of the quality and vision between Oxford Radcliffe Hospitals and the University of Oxford.

“We are very excited by the major new areas of clinical research that this funding will enable us to develop in the next five years.”

Almost £10m in extra funding will go to the Musculoskeletal Biomedical Research Unit (BRU), a joint programme between the Nuffield Orthopaedic Centre in Headington and Oxford University.

A further £2.5m from the NIHR will support a new programme examining the effect of exercise and cognitive stimulation on brain function in dementia in a project between the university and Oxford Health, the NHS trust which provides mental health services in Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire.

Prof Andrew Hamilton, vice-chancellor of Oxford University, said: “It is great recognition for the structures in place here in Oxford with our NHS partners.

“These are enabling excellent medical research to flourish.”

Last month the Oxford Mail revealed plans for the university and the ORH trust to work as one, a move the organisations promised would improve treatments and lead to the recruitment of top doctors from across the globe.

Sir Jonathan Michael, chief executive of the Oxford Radcliffe Hospitals NHS Trust, said this was an example of the agreement’s benefits.

He said: “There has been a long history of collaboration between the University of Oxford and Oxford Radcliffe Hospitals which benefits both patients and the wider community. In July of this year ORH and the university formalised their longstanding relationship by entering into a joint working agreement.

“The news of increased funding for the Oxford Biomedical Research Centre is another example of the effective partnership between the trust and the university in pursuit of excellence in patient care, research and education.”

Cancer campaigner and kidney cancer patient Clive Stone, from Eynsham, said he was glad Oxford would be at the forefront of research.

But he added: “What we need to do is make sure this research and these trials all come to fruition and eventually become drugs that will be routinely available to patients on the NHS.

”All too often we see patients denied drugs which have been successfully trialled because they are ‘too expensive’.”