Pennine Acute Trust sees huge increase in patients taking part in clinical research

Dr Jimmy Limdi, consultant gastroenterologist and clinical lead for inflammatory bowel diseases at the Trust

The Pennine Acute Hospitals NHS Trust’s award-winning clinical research and development department has seen a huge increase in the number of patients taking part in clinical research over the last year.

For 2015/16 the recruitment to patient research trials has grown from 2,229 patients to 5,084 patients. When ranked according to percentage annual growth in patient recruitment, this puts the Trust which runs North Manchester General Hospital, The Royal Oldham Hospital, Rochdale Infirmary, Fairfield General Hospital in Bury and community services in the top five Acute Trusts in England.

The 2015/16 league table, published by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Clinical Research Network (CRN) shows all NHS trusts in England are delivering clinical research, providing thousands more patients with access to better treatments and care.

Evidence shows that research is something that patients really value and Trusts are creating the opportunities for patients to get involved.

Commenting on this performance, Dr Steve Woby, Director of R&D at Pennine Acute, said: “This level of recruitment is really impressive and demonstrates the Trust’s continued commitment to supporting high quality research as a driver for improving quality and patient outcomes. In terms of our annual percentage improvement, the league table shows that the Trust were in the top three per cent of all Acute Trusts in England, which is a fantastic achievement. 

"The research department at Pennine Acute is made up of dedicated, compassionate staff, who are committed to providing high quality research for our patients. They have an excellent reputation, both globally and within the UK, and have won several awards, including Pharmatimes NHS Research Site of the year, highlighting varying successes within the department.

“We have over 350 research studies across 25 different specialities, and we are continuously opening new studies to give as many of our patients as possible the chance to participate in high quality research, and improve the care of future patients with innovative treatments. Research is vital to improving healthcare, but research couldn’t be done without those who choose to participate.”

Dr Jimmy Limdi, consultant gastroenterologist and clinical lead for inflammatory bowel diseases at the Trust said: “The ability to bring cutting edge science home to my patients is deeply satisfying, ultimately impacting positively on our standards of care and outcomes. It affirms my faith that the ‘perceived’ boundaries between science and medicine are not immutable.”