This is your monthly roundup of National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) Research Delivery Network (RDN) news, studies and opportunities. Please respond to this mailbox if you don’t wish to receive this email.
For information about all studies running within Primary Care across the South East, please visit our Primary Care website, or email se.rrdn@nihr.ac.uk.
These studies are distributed to Primary Care key points of contact and practice staff. Please forward this email on as required, or if your colleagues would like to hear about local research opportunities for Primary Care, please ask them to email se.rrdn@nihr.ac.uk.
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News
Capital Investment Funding
NIHR has launched the Capital Investment funding opportunity which is open to NHS organisations in England to strengthen research infrastructure, with a specific emphasis on enhancing primary care research capability. Primary Care organisations, including general practices, may apply for funding of up to £300,000 to support the purchase of equipment, modular buildings (e.g. portacabins), or refurbishment projects for research delivery.
Read the full announcement on the NIHR website.
Commercial Research
Have you ever considered taking part in commercial research? Below are some steps to help you get started: .
- Consider signing up to the National Contract Value Review or NCVR. This is a scheme that aims to make setting up commercial research much quicker. Click here to sign up.
- Complete a short profile to help your site get suitably matched to commercial studies.
- The questions within the profile can be viewed here.
- We would be happy to support you to complete this, plus you can access some guidance around what to include in your profile..
If you have any questions around commercial research, please feel free to contact Helen Graham, Life Sciences Key Account Manager – helen.graham@nihr.ac.uk
Highlighted studies
We have several new studies looking for practices to take part in. For more information about each study summarised below, please visit the Primary Care website. If you have any questions, please email se.rrdn@nihr.ac.uk.
STRIPE – Study of Treatment in Paediatric Eczema (CPMS 63781)
What is the study focusing on? This study explores the use of topical treatments for childhood eczema, especially emollients and Topical corticosteroids (TCS), from the perspective of patients, carers, and healthcare professionals. It will go on further to understand whether topical treatments are considered safe and effective to use and reasons for their use.
What do GP practices need to do?
- Eligibility checks, patient mailouts, reminder texts, and retrieval of medical records.
- Healthcare professionals treating children with eczema can complete a 10-minute survey and attend an optional 30-45 minute interview.
How much will GP sites be paid? Service support costs: Database search and eligibility check – £129
Research costs
- Study set up – local coordination – £47
- Patient survey – mailout and reminder text – £40.50
- Healthcare professional survey – £10 per completed survey
- Healthcare professional interview – £50 per interview
- Routine data extraction – £23.50
Find more information in the RISP or visit the study website.
If you would like to take part, please email skinandallergy-research@bristol.ac.uk and se.rrdn@nihr.ac.uk.
Recruitment ends 30 June. Please get in touch as soon as possible if you are interested in this study.
ISC-PRO Survey (CPMS 61654)
The survey is aimed at professionals who are working in an integrated care setting where health and social care organisations and services work together to provide coordinated care.
What is the study focusing on? The survey is aimed at professionals working in integrated care settings. The survey is exploring the use of patient-reported outcomes (self-report questionnaires designed to collect information and measure different aspects of health and well-being.
What do GP practices need to do? Distribute the survey to all members of staff providing integrated care.
How much will GP sites be paid? As a thank you for completing the survey, participants will be invited to take part in an optional prize draw with a prize of a £50 shopping voucher.
The survey can be found at: https://www.smartsurvey.co.uk/s/ICS-PROstudy/
For more information, please contact Chief Investigator, Dr Nicola Anderson: n.e.anderson.1@bham.ac.uk
Please see below the flyer and Patient Information Sheet:
ICS-PRO Survey Flyer with links v2.0 17.01.25.pdf
ICS-PRO PIS Survey v3.0 14.12.24 UoB.pdf
Research results
Results of BARCODE1 published Results of the The BARCODE 1 study have been published in The New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM).
The study calculated the risk of prostate cancer from DNA extracted from saliva – called a polygenic risk score. For the men with the highest risk score, the study found this to be a better tool than the blood test which measures levels of a protein called prostate-specific antigen (PSA), which can be elevated if someone has prostate cancer.
For the men with the highest genetic risk, the test falsely identified fewer people with prostate cancer than the PSA test, picked up people with cancer who would have been missed by the PSA test alone, and picked up a higher proportion of the aggressive cancers than the PSA test. The test also accurately identified men with prostate cancer that was missed by an MRI scan.
Primary Care sites across Kent, Surrey and Sussex recruited 6,231 out of 9,494 participants
Find out more about the study from the Institute of Cancer Research which sponsored the study and a news story on the BBC website.
Training and resources
RCGP Research Ready Research Ready is a programme which gives information, guidance and support to research-active GP practices and provides a method by which practices can demonstrate they are aware of and meet the standards necessary to undertake primary care research. If you would like to learn more about what is involved, visit th RCGP website.
NIHR Learn is our training platform where you can access training opportunities, including Good Clinical Practice, Informed Consent, Principle Investigator Essentials courses. Anyone can sign up using an NHS email address.
There are some local face to face training opportunities coming up over the next few weeks:
May Informed Consent in Research – face to face – 19 May, 1pm to 4pm – Medway Maritime Hospital, Gillingham
June
Good Clinical Practice (GCP) Introduction Consolidation Workshop – face to face – 17 June, 11am to 2.30pm, Medway Maritime Hospital, Gillingham
