New £10m sports medicine centre for East Midlands

Six partners from universities and hospitals in Nottinghamshire and Leicestershire are set to build a £10m centre for sport and exercise medicine.

As part of Olympic-year plans announced by Health Secretary Andrew Lansley, the centre will be a research hub into sport and exercise injuries.

Researchers will also study conditions linked with lack of exercise, such as diabetes.

Two other national hubs will be set up in London and Sheffield.

Doctors and researchers from the Nottingham and Leicester University Hospital NHS trusts, the Universities of Nottingham, Loughborough and Leicester and the Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Trust will collaborate at a purpose-built centre on the Loughborough University campus.

Sports doctor Professor Mark Batt from Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust, said: "The East Midlands has a long heritage of sport and sporting success and is a natural home for the new national centre.

"Along with London and Sheffield, it will form a networked centre to serve the general public, patients and athletes alike.

"The further enhancement of sport and exercise medicine can be a lasting Olympic legacy benefiting the NHS and the whole country."