Building Research into core NHS Business – The NHS Medium Term Planning Framework.
Date: 27 October 2025
On Friday 24th October 2025, the NHS’s Medium Term Planning Framework was published. The Framework covers 3 years of NHS activity from 1 April 2026 through to 31 March 2029 and includes headline actions to build research into core NHS business whilst also supporting the UK’s position as a destination for global clinical trials.
This includes:
- All providers must meet the government’s 150 day clinical trial set-up target.
- Research activity and income should be reported to boards at least twice per year, including study set-up performance, commercial research income and use of commercial contract income relating to capacity building, and how they are meeting the terms of research contracts outside of NHS HM Treasury allocations.
- From April 2026 ICBs should ensure clinical trials are proactively supported, including by reducing the time they take to set up, by following standards and guidance in Managing Research Finance in the NHS.
- From April 2026 providers are expected to deliver services in line with the NHS Genomic Medicine Service specification, including the delivery of genomic testing services and testing strategies as well as clinical functions for cancer, rare disease and population health and the new genomics population health service.
In the 10 Year Health Plan it states: Many hospitals already make a strong contribution to research and life sciences. Moreover, those that do so deliver better patient care as a result. We will increasingly expect hospitals to make this a business-as-usual activity, not a ‘nice to have’. The Medium Term Planning Framework’s research components goes some way to supporting that expectation.