Doing Research the Federated Way!

The NHS is committed to research. It informs best practice and creates the treatments of tomorrow. It brings skills, knowledge, equipment, money and attracts high quality staff. Its also important that research is done in the setting and population that will use the knowledge gained so as the research is applicable and relevant.

The NIHR and NW Costal CRN are keen for NHS bodies and associates to take part in research at all levels including academic and co-sponsored by pharma. Studies from MSC research for students to major international clinical trials.

Its vitally important that research is done in primary care as most care occurs in primary care and arguably most of the truly significant improvements to life expectancy and health have occurred in primary care and indeed in public health not in hospital care.

Ashfields and Kiltearn Practices have for almost 10 years been doing clinical research supported by the CRN NW Costal. They have done a range of studies from phase 2 to 4 clinical trials, simple observational and registry studies to randomised double blinded controlled trials.

Always keen to increase the amount of research done – both in terms of practices involved and numbers of participants – the Alliance together with the CRN created a local participation scheme where practices would be funded to join in a federated model of research where they effectively acted as PIC sites for the 2 research centres. They agreed to share data, agree to consider doing studies, review lists of patients to check who might be not appropriate and to allow the research team access to their practice. The CRN has funded a nurse to work in the practices and funded the scheme.

So far its been very successful with 15 practices signing up, with most of them taking part in studies. The recruitment rate has also gone up. We are moving into year 2 of the project and trying to see if the practices want to do more internally as sites themselves.

https://www.nihr.ac.uk/nihr-in-your-area/north-west-coast/

http://www.nhs.uk/conditions/Clinical-trials/Pages/Introduction.aspx