More than £800 million has been announced to fund research centres in an attempt to improve delivery of health and care services.

£790 millions will be spent on supporting breakthroughs in new treatments, diagnostics and medical technology to improve patients' lives.

A further £25 million will be spent on research into patient safety and better address health challenges.

The funding will be allocated by the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) and will be used to support specialist research facilities.

The £790 million has been awarded to 20 NIHR Biomedical Research Centres over the next five years to fund innovation in diagnosis and treatment of high-priority diseases areas such as cancer, mental health and dementia.

The £25 million has been awarded to six NIHR Patient Safety Research Centres (PSRC) to improve understanding and resolution of patient safety challenges. Research will look into incident reporting and investigations and digital innovations.

Health and Social Care Secretary and Deputy Prime Minister Thérèse Coffey said: "The pandemic has highlighted the importance of our booming research sector and the potential it has to not only strengthen health and care services, but lead to lifesaving developments.

"This additional funding will harness the UK’s world-leading innovation and allow research centres up and down the country to attract experts in their field and conduct research that saves lives.

"From helping develop the Covid vaccine to discovering world-first treatments, these centres have already delivered ground-breaking research and will continue to help us tackle some of the biggest health challenges we face, including cancer, to ensure the NHS continues to deliver world-class care."