Royal Oldham Hospital signs 100th patient onto national research study

Lynne Winstanley, Simon Kaye; Carolyn Corbett, Louise Morby, Karen Hallett and Mr Bourdoumis

The urology service at The Royal Oldham Hospital has signed the 100th patient onto a national research study.

The PUrE randomised control study is looking at the treatment of lower pole renal (kidney) stones, examining both its efficiency and patient satisfaction.

The study will determine the best first line therapy for kidney stones, depending on their size, and these will be translated into guidelines for surgeons.

Patients who take part on the year-long study are allocated to respective treatment arms based on the size of their kidney stone. The study compares the outcomes between the existing stone physical treatments such as, ultrasound or laser therapy for small stones and laser therapy or surgery for larger stones.

The study is open across the whole of the Pennine Acute Trust and research nurses go to all of the Trust’s four hospital sites – The Royal Oldham, North Manchester General Hospital, Fairfield General Hospital and Rochdale Infirmary – to see patients for the study.

Patients are seen by the research nurse and asked to complete questionnaires before being randomised to one treatment or another. The research team follow them up at regular intervals for one year with further questionnaires to assess the effectiveness of the treatment and the patient’s quality of life.

Mr Andreas Bourdoumis, consultant urological surgeon and principal investigator for the PUrE study at Pennine Acute Trust, said: “In the urology directorate at The Royal Oldham Hospital, we are inspired and guided by our Trustwide core values to deliver high quality responsible and compassionate health care. We strongly and actively support research as we believe it is the cornerstone of quality improvement.

“With the invaluable assistance and support of our members from the research nurse team we have managed to lead the recruitment process on the study since the green light was given in August 2016. Since then we have signed up 21 patients out of a total of 109 nationally.”

Simon Kaye, senior clinical research nurse at The Royal Oldham Hospital, who is involved in the study, said: “By taking part patients will be helping to shape the healthcare of the future. They also receive closer follow-up than they might normally. Staff referring the patients into the study give themselves extra time for other patients as all patients with kidney stones are seen by the research team.”