Record number of patients take part in Oswestry orthopaedic hospital studies

New figures published by the Clinical Research Network West Midlands (CRN WM) show that 73,920 people took part in clinical research in the region in 2018/19 – the most ever in a single year.

Those figures include 871 participants from The Robert Jones and Agnes Hunt Orthopaedic Hospital (RJAH), near Oswestry – beating a target of 781.

This figure was also an increase of 6.5 per cent on the number recruited during the previous year.

During that period, RJAH had 61 National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) eligible studies running, also known as portfolio studies – 57 of which were clinical and four were laboratory based, which is an increase of 17 per cent in total.

RJAH, which is based near Oswestry, was also found to be the best performing trust nationally for all commercial studies badged as orthopaedic – recruiting 161 participants across five studies.

Commercial studies are carried out in collaboration with industry, for example alongside a medical device company.

The trust was also the highest recruiting organisation in the West Midlands region for all portfolio studies badged as orthopaedic – recruiting 246 participants across 14 studies, in 2018/19.

NIHR Portfolio studies are funded through open competition – those are funders who accept application from any organisation.

Growth

Teresa Jones, research manager at RJAH, said: “This growth in activity reflects the importance that RJAH places on research and how it impacts on meeting the trust’s aspiration to deliver world class patient care, as well as the requirement of the NHS to deliver the NIHR objective of research in the NHS being patient focused.

“I would like to thank all of our patients who have consented to being involved in our research studies, as well as my hard working research and clinical colleagues, who have made this happen.

“Being an active research organisation means we are working towards trying to find better treatments and outcomes for our patients.”

Professor Jeremy Kirk, clinical director of CRN WM, said: “Our grateful thanks go to every single person who participates in clinical research, or supports someone who does. Without them, we wouldn’t be able to find new and better treatments for patients in the future.

“It is also a fantastic reflection of the hard work and enthusiasm of our dedicated staff and researchers in the region.

“The increase in the number of patients taking part in clinical research last year and the improvements we are seeing in studies delivering to time and target are fantastic achievements that are contributing to better health and care outcomes in our region.

“As a result, more and more patients will benefit from new and better treatments becoming available.”

He added: “I would also like to take this opportunity to thank and congratulate the team at RJAH for exceeding their own target, which in turn has contributed to our record-breaking number, once again.”

There are currently more than 1,000 different research studies taking place in the West Midlands across 30 health specialties.