Researchers at a University of Aberdeen unit are today celebrating two decades of helping to shape local, national and international health care.
A conference is being held to mark the 20th anniversary of the Health Services Research Unit or HSRU - which was ahead of its time when it was launched in 1988 to "improve the effectiveness and efficiency of health services in Scotland."
While the goals of HSRU – which receives core funding from the Chief Scientist Office - have broadly remained the same over the years, its scope of work is much wider and its findings are helping to inform health care providers and policymakers across the UK and around the world.
A major part of HSRU's work involves co-ordinating and conducting large scale clinical trials which investigate all kinds of health care treatments, procedures and approaches.
One of these trials found that multivitamin and multimineral supplements taken by older people living at home were unlikely to prevent infections. Another discovered that fractures were not prevented in elderly people who routinely took calcium and vitamin D supplements.
New trials getting underway includes one that will explore a range of different procedures used to treat varicose veins and another that will look at surgical options for managing glaucoma.
Another large component of HSRU's work involves conducting systematic reviews.
These involve studying every shred of evidence that exists on a particular topic. For example, it could mean examining everything about a specific surgical procedure for a medical condition.
After painstaking investigation, the researcher then makes recommendations about the use of this procedure for that medical condition. For example, one HSRU review commissioned by the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE), prompted NICE to recommend keyhole surgery as an alternative to open surgery for hernia repairs.
HSRU's reviews explore all sorts of health care questions and have included recommendations on the best obesity treatments for adults and the best and most cost effective treatments for glaucoma.
Among the other roles of HSRU – which began with a handful of staff and now has around 60 – is to help train NHS staff in health services research and health care evaluation.
Professor Marion Campbell is the current Director of the Unit which has brought in around £40 million of grant income from a variety of sources over the years. She said: "It is a great honour for me to be the director of a Unit with such a successful track record in influencing health care. I am delighted that the achievements of the Unit over the last 20 years are being celebrated in Aberdeen today."
Professor Adrian Grant, who previously held the post of director for 12 years, and was the longest serving unit director before moving to a new role in 2006, said: "I really enjoyed my time as Director of HSRU and I am very proud of the achievements of the Unit.
"We have had 20 tremendous years as the premier centre of this kind of research in Scotland undertaking important and internationally recognised work and I am delighted that we are recognising that today."
More than 100 researchers, trial managers, statisticians, clinical staff and NHS managers are among those attending today's conference Making a Difference in Health Care: 20 years of Health Services Research which is taking place at the King's College Conference Centre.