A project to transform health and care services for people living with multiple long-term conditions has secured a further five years of funding – taking the total investment to more than £6 million.
The SEISMIC SHIFT (Systemic Health Innovation Future Transformation) programme is one of three that have received renewed support from the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) and the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC).
Each programme is now entering a second phase following a £17.9 million UK-wide funding boost for research into multiple long-term conditions.
SEISMIC SHIFT is led by the University of Strathclyde in partnership with NHS Lanarkshire, NHS Highland, NHS 24 and an extensive network of collaborators across Scotland and the UK.
The programme brings together systems design and engineering researchers with clinicians, public health specialists and social care partners to rethink how care is organised for people with complex health needs.
Lead Investigator, Professor Anja Maier, Distinguished Professor of Engineering Systems Design at the University of Strathclyde, said: “This investment is a major milestone for SEISMIC SHIFT and allows us to accelerate ambitious work that enables a fundamental shift in how healthcare is experienced by people living with multiple long-term conditions.
“By embedding systems expertise in health and care, we aim to redesign services around people’s real experiences while strengthening the NHS for the future.”
Rather than treating conditions in isolation, the programme focuses on redesigning services around clusters of symptoms, reflecting patients’ lived experience and supporting a shift from disease-based care to symptom focused, whole person support. The approach applies systems thinking and engineering to embed new ways of working directly into health and care settings.
The next phase will see the partnership working across diverse environments, from urban communities to rural regions, to co‑design and test innovations that can be scaled nationally.
NHS Lanarkshire’s focus will be on identifying the value from improved coordination across primary, secondary and community care to reduce pressures across the whole system.
Joint-Lead Applicant, Professor Andrew Smith, Consultant Respiratory Physician at NHS Lanarkshire, said: “People living with multiple long-term conditions often navigate complex pathways through the health system.
“SEISMIC SHIFT gives us an opportunity to rethink how care is organised and to deliver services that are more integrated, efficient and sustainable for both patients and staff.”
The new funding builds on a successful development phase launched in 2023, during which the partnership tested new approaches to the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of breathlessness, a common and complex symptom among people with multiple long-term conditions.
In NHS Lanarkshire, a three-month pilot of a symptom led multidisciplinary team brought together cardiology and respiratory specialists to review cases of breathlessness.
Early findings indicate patient satisfaction with a pathway that delivers more appropriate referrals, reduces demand on specialty clinics, and enables faster routes to symptom treatment and management.
