NIHR publishes latest data on patient experience in research, provides patient pathway to study success @NIHRCRN @NHSRDForum #clinicaltrials

Hats off to the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Clinical Research Networks who published the latest data on patient experience in research this week. They have now been tracking patient views on participation for three years and with each report we gain a more informed picture of what matters to them. And with the … Continue reading NIHR publishes latest data on patient experience in research, provides patient pathway to study success @NIHRCRN @NHSRDForum #clinicaltrials

How your NHS Trust works in mysterious ways when it comes to clinical research

Today the NIHR Clinical Research Network Co-ordinating Centre (NIHR CRN CC) has published the results of a 'mystery shopper' exercise it conducted last year to investigate how well NHS Trusts provide information about clinical research.  You may have seen a piece in last Sunday's Observer which trailed this work and you may hear about it … Continue reading How your NHS Trust works in mysterious ways when it comes to clinical research

Research in the NHS: I couldn’t put it better than Cumbria Partnership NHS Trust

Recently I decided to 'Follow' as many of the NHS organisations (Trusts, CCGs etc) as I could find on Twitter. The main reason was that as we ratchet up what we do around the patient access to research agenda in the New Year, I thought it would be good to begin to make connections on … Continue reading Research in the NHS: I couldn’t put it better than Cumbria Partnership NHS Trust

Clinical trials activity report for England highlights progress but much work still to be done

The National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) CRN CC has today published its clinical research activity report for the final quarter of 2011/12.  Some of the data and a good summary of what they mean is also available on The Guardian website. Last year was the first that this sort of information was made widely available.  So … Continue reading Clinical trials activity report for England highlights progress but much work still to be done

Survey raises questions over NHS research

So it was an early start for me today, doing radio interviews for International Clinical Trials Day today.  I'll post the links to one or two when available.  Here's the press release from NIHR CRN which was the news peg for the interviews. NEWS RELEASE TEXT (HEADLINE AS ABOVE) The results of a new survey, published on … Continue reading Survey raises questions over NHS research

Pro-research NHS Trusts talk in-depth about their challenges and opportunities

After my little rant yesterday about health research culture and public involvement, it seems only appropriate to share with you the following in the interests of journalistic balance. The latest NIHR Clinical Research Network (CRN) newsletter, aptly called 'News from the Network,' is a special edition featuring in-depth features on the NHS Trusts who were … Continue reading Pro-research NHS Trusts talk in-depth about their challenges and opportunities

How’s your NHS Trust doing in the research league tables? Is Leeds the Man City of NHS Research? Does Bridgewater deserve the hairdrier treatment?

So NIHR CRN CC/The Guardian have today published a league table of how each NHS Trust is performing in research as defined by the number of research studies and the number of patients taking part.  I believe this is the first time such a table has been compiled and a thoroughly good thing it is … Continue reading How’s your NHS Trust doing in the research league tables? Is Leeds the Man City of NHS Research? Does Bridgewater deserve the hairdrier treatment?

In defence of the clinical trial patient: a health research ombudsman?

Over a half a million members of the British public took part in clinical trials through the NIHR Clinical Trials Research Networks in 2010, a 24% increase on the year before.  Those are the Government's figures, not mine. Last week's 'life sciences' announcement included a range of measures to increase patient recruitment to trials.  These include … Continue reading In defence of the clinical trial patient: a health research ombudsman?

Promoting clinical trial participation

This coming week I am speaking at The Prostate Cancer Charity's national conference. 20 minutes on public engagement including questions and answers. My first call to action to the audience is likely to be about encouraging patient participation in clinical trials. Compared to five or even one year ago there now seems a great deal … Continue reading Promoting clinical trial participation

‘Scroll down’ for clinical trials

To begin with, here's more on that Pfizer story about use of mobile phone technology etc in clinical trials. It seems to have piqued an interest among many of you anyway. Also on the subject of clinical trials, I was rather perplexed by this story running out of the NHS Confederation this morning. I'm delighted … Continue reading ‘Scroll down’ for clinical trials

More NHS patients participating in UK clinical trials than ever before

A piece of good news with which to begin the New Year.  PharmaTimes is reporting that the number of patients participating in clinical trials jumped by 67% last year to over half a million (compared to over 300,000 in 2009). The new CEO of the National Institute for Health Research Clinical Research Network Co-ordinating Centre (NIHR … Continue reading More NHS patients participating in UK clinical trials than ever before