Medical and healthcare sector

Plymouth has a rapidly developing medical base with a mix of activity from teaching to medical-engineering, medical informatics and bio-marine science.

Plymouth Hospitals NHS Trust

Plymouth Hospitals NHS Trust is the largest single site teaching hospital in Europe and works in close partnership with the Peninsula College of Medicine and Dentistry. The hospital provides a full range of acute and general services to a population of 460,000 people in Plymouth, east Cornwall and south west Devon. It is the national centre for cardio-thoracic with specialist treatments such as heart surgery and cardiology services, kidney transplants, neurosurgery and pancreatic surgery delivered to two million people across Devon, Cornwall and Dorset.

The Trust works with the Peninsula Medical School and University of Plymouth conducting research and, in 2006 to 2007, £1.8m was spent on research in areas such as haematology, women's and children's health, infection, clinical diabetes, cardiovascular, oncology and neurosciences.

Peninsula College of Medicine and Dentistry

The Peninsula College of Medicine and Dentistry graduated its first doctors in July 2007 and, these new doctors are already excelling in their clinical roles, thereby realising a key aim of the school to graduate first class clinicians, optimally prepared to enjoy their role in a rapidly changing healthcare environment.

University of Plymouth

The University of Plymouth has a long record of high quality innovative research. The outcome of the 2001 Research Assessment Exercise (RAE) confirmed that much of the University's research had attained international levels of excellence. Around double the number of staff were submitted to the RAE 2008. This represents a sizeable increase in research active staff since RAE 2001, reflecting the increasing importance of research to the University’s mission.

Plymouth is developing a growing knowledge-based manufacturing and service industry by linking to the work of the university, hospital and the advanced engineering sector, and is host to several medical-related companies:

• Advanced Control Research Limited - is a research and development company committed to improving the quality of life through the application of real-time embedded microprocessor control systems and has a track record of licensing its technologies to global players in the medical field.
• Algram Group - manufactures components for medical applications.
• The Barden Corporation - manufactures components for medical applications.
• Becton Dickinson (BD) - a global name in high technology, high volume medical equipment, the Plymouth plant is one of the largest production units for BD in Europe.
• BioVault - a world leader in the storage of stem cells.
• Cardio Analytics - an independent cardiac investigation and monitoring service providing cardiac data analysis for the clinical trials industry and one of only 25 such enterprises in the world.
• The Hyperbaric Medical Centre - the headquarters of the Diving Diseases Research Centre (DDRC), a medical charity which undertakes treatment, training and research into diving diseases and other medical conditions. DDRC is one of the world’s leading authorities on Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy providing both emergency and routine patient care.
• Knight Scientific Limited - manufactures and supplies unique chemiluminescent reagent kits for free radicals and oxidative stress.
• Tamar Science Park (TSP) - hosts some of the most innovative businesses in the south west which include medical, science, technology and knowledge-based companies.

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