The Northern Care Alliance Research Collection (NCARC) is a Human Tissue Authority (HTA) licensed generic research tissue bank with an affiliated biorepository facility operated by Northern Care Alliance NHS Foundation Trust. NCARC was established in 2018 and given ethical permission (Wales Research Ethics Committee 4, REC number 18/WA/0368) to collect, store and release biomaterial and NHS data to support biomedical research.
NCARC works across the NCA covering 4 hospitals:
- Salford Royal and integrated services
- The Royal Oldham Hospital and community services
- Fairfield General Hospital and community services
- Rochdale Infirmary and community services
Together the hospitals of Northern Care Alliance bring together around 19,000 expert NHS staff to serve more than 1 million people in the immediate locality and many more from the rest of the UK and Europe who access specialist services such as Salford Royal’s Metabolic Medicine and Intestinal Failure Units. The Trust provides the benefits of scale but delivers this locally through multiple hospital sites and local healthcare services.
NCARC provides a streamlined, efficient and high-quality way to collect and store appropriately consented annotated biomaterial and NHS data for distribution to partners with a particular interest in biomedical research according to regulatory requirements under one centralised infrastructure and governance framework.
The Collection and Access Review Panel ensures that samples are released for high quality, scientifically validated biomedical research. NCARC works to standardised SOPs developed by local experts but also adopts a flexible biobanking model whereby it not only routinely collects and stores samples for future use, but also facilitates bespoke sample collections to meet the needs of all our partners.
NCARC provides a research and innovation opportunity that involves accessing expertise and facilities across NCA to academic, commercial, charity and public sectors in supporting research towards ‘saving lives, improving lives.’