NHS Organisations across the West Midlands will be celebrating International Clinical Trials Day on 20 May to raise awareness on how patients can get involved in and contribute to research.
The Clinical Research Network West Midlands has published figures showing 58,094 patients in the region took the opportunity to participate in research in 2016/17; including 23,321 at Trusts in Birmingham.
- Birmingham Community Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust - 1,957
- Birmingham Children’s NHS Foundation Trust - 2,992
- Sandwell & West Birmingham Hospitals NHS Trust - 2,757
- Heart of England NHS Foundation Trust - 5,350
- University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust - 6,327
- Birmingham Women’s NHS Foundation Trust - 2,780
- The Royal Orthopaedic Hospital NHS Foundation Trust - 760
- Birmingham & Solihull Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust - 398
Each year, International Clinical Trials Day celebrates clinical research all over the world, and highlights the important impact research has had on medicine. The day celebrates the anniversary of the first clinical trial by James Lind in 1747 into the causes of scurvy on board the HMS Salisbury. A range of activities will be taking place around the region to mark the day, including a school visit by a Research Bus, a Research Café and a number of Research Showcases.
100% of Trusts in the West Midlands are research active, together with 410 GP practices (45%) and the Network is the highest recruiting of the 15 Networks in England for commercial studies. Participating in health research helps develop new treatments, improve the NHS and save lives and studies show that research active trusts have better outcomes for patients.
Network Clinical Director Professor Jeremy Kirk commented: ‘The more patients who can be offered the opportunity to take part in vital clinical research, the better the care we can offer and the quicker the NHS can introduce new and better treatments for the benefit of all patients. We would like to thank all those who have contributed to these improvements through their participation in research.’
Patients from local Trusts have been sharing their stories to highlight the impact that research has had on their lives, and the lives of others who have participated. Sheena, a patient from the Black Country says: ‘After research had been explained to me in more detail I knew I was definitely going to take part. I knew that people would benefit from the research and I would be helping somebody else.’
2017 also sees the launch of a new national campaign: I Am Research, which highlights the many different ways in which people can get involved in and contribute to research. It gives patients, the public and health and social care professionals a chance to shout about how fantastic health and social care research is.
To find out about healthcare research studies running locally, visit www.ukctg.nihr.ac.uk or to read more about patients’ experiences visit www.nihr.ac.uk/wmidlands.
Research and Innovation at our Trust
If you'd like to find out more about research at our Trust and how you can get involved, come and visit the Trust's Uffculme Centre (Queensbridge Road, Moseley, B13 8QY) on Friday 19 May to visit our Research and Innovation staff, open to our staff, service users and the public.
For any queries relating to Research and Innovation at our Trust, feel free to email our Research and Innovation team at research.innovation@bsmhft.nhs.uk
