Newcastle is future-proofing health research

On International Clinical Trials Day, Dame Jackie Daniel, CEO at Newcastle Upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, outlines how research is a priority for the Trust.

“On 10 May, The Academy of Medical Sciences (AMS) published its report on the UK health research sector: Future-proofing UK Health Research: a people- centred, coordinated approach. The report rightly acknowledges that health research saves and improves many lives.

Many members of the public understand more about clinical trials because of the COVID-19 pandemic, but research is, of course, long established and many of our modern-day treatments exist because of research. Ultimately, every treatment was once a trial.

Newcastle is internationally recognised for its research expertise. We deliver research to thousands of patients each year and are consistently one of the best performing trusts nationally for research activity.

Despite this, research, like many other parts of the NHS, faces several challenges, and so the issues raised in the AMS report might sound familiar – an increasing workload, staff shortages, career progression, funding, and time pressures.

As a research-active trust, I’m pleased to say that we’re already addressing some of these issues in our clinical research strategy 2021-26, including how we embed research into standard clinical care, career progression, and encouraging everyone to play a part in research.

As we approach the two-year point in the five-year strategy, we have made some fantastic progress in several areas, including:

• Introduced new roles, including a clinical trials practitioner and research support manager to help staff progress their career.
• Streamlined our study set-up process which has resulted in a 57% reduction in the number of days it takes to set up a study. 
• In 2022/23, an additional 4601 patients took part in clinical trials compared to 2019/20.
• The recent appointment of a research matron to one of only two senior research leader posts in North East and North Cumbria, helping nurses and midwives to develop and deliver research.
• Recognising the unique challenges faced by our nurses, midwives and allied health professionals in developing research within their clinical roles, there is a dedicated research priority within the NMAHP professional strategy.
• The flagship NMAHP Researcher Development Institute, funded by Newcastle Hospitals Charity and launched in 2022, marked a step change in our ability to enable our NMAHPs to get involved in research at any stage of their career.

This infographic has been produced in support of this year’s International Clinical Trials Day (Saturday 20 May), and shows some of our incredible research achievements from the last year.

These achievements are a timely reminder of the commitment, hard work, and passion of everyone delivering research to patients. Thank you to all involved and here’s to the exciting future of clinical research.”

Read the full blog on Dame Jackie’s website