16 May 2017

The following message is from our colleagues at the National Institute for Health Research

NHS Organisations across the West Midlands will be celebrating International Clinical Trials Day this Friday (20 May) to raise awareness about how patients can get involved in and contribute to research.

The Clinical Research Network West Midlands has published figures showing 56,821 patients in the region took the opportunity to take part in research in 2016/17; including 3,438 at Trusts in Shropshire:

  • Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust – 2,030
  • Shropshire Community Health NHS Trust – 12
  • The Robert Jones & Agnes Hunt Orthopaedic Hospital NHS Foundation Trust – 702
  • South Staffordshire & Shropshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust – 694

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.

All 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 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 said: “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