Who we are
Research
The trust research team is a dedicated group of nurses and clinical research practitioners who promote research within the trust.
In this page
The Research Team
We are a research active Trust!
At Gloucestershire Health and Care, we know that health research changes lives. We’re committed to providing high-quality health research that benefits our patients, our community and the wider NHS now and in the future. If you take part in a clinical trial, you may be one of the first people to benefit from a new treatment or therapy or your feedback could help inform the care of others in the future!
Contact us
Email research@ghc.nhs.uk
Telephone 0300 421 5946
Our Policy
Our Trust is research-focused. We look for opportunities to promote research and development and are willing to provide the necessary training for our staff to be involved in research.
Whilst we have our dedicated research team, we require all of our staff to be proactive in promoting research so that the maximum number of our patients have the opportunity to take part in research studies.
All research carried out by the research team is only undertaken once a study is approved by the IRAS (Integrated Research Application System) and the HRA (Health Research Authority).
Patient safety is at the forefront of our choices when deciding if we will undertake a research study, and therefore we have strict standard operating procedures (SOP), to ensure that our patients are adequately cared for. All research staff including non-clinical have undergone medical emergency response training.
We will endeavour to undertake studies that include not just our patients, but also their families and carers, to better understand the needs of families, as well as the patients.
Studies currently recruiting participants
If you are interested in taking part in any of our studies, or would like to find out more, contact the research team.
Telephone: 0300 421 5946
Email: research@ghc.nhs.uk
Open studies
GLAD - Genetic Links to Anxiety and Depression
Join us in the world’s largest study of depression and anxiety, funded by the NIHR and part of the NIHR Bioresource.
To be eligible, participants may have suffered, or have been diagnosed with, depression or anxiety or alternatively may have never experienced any mental health disorder.
They must be aged 16 or over and be currently living in the UK.
What participants need to do
- Complete some questionnaires
- Provide a saliva sample
Find out more and apply
To read more about the study and for information on how to participate, please visit: Genetic Links to Anxiety and Depression | GLAD Study
Please enter ‘Gloucestershire Health and Care’ when prompted on sign up. You can take part in this study via the website yourself or contact the Research team to support you by email: research@ghc.nhs.uk
QMIN
Take part in a research study to test whether advanced analysis of MRI brain scans can help with the diagnosis and prognosis of people with memory and thinking problems.
Participant Eligibility
- People attending memory clinics.
- Patients in whom the treating clinician considers neuroimaging to be part of the usual diagnostic pathway.
What do participants need to do?
- Have an MRI scan.
The Eating Disorders Genetics Initiative (EDGI)
The Eating Disorders Genetics Initiative (EDGI) is the UK’s largest ever research project on eating disorders. Their aim is to collect the psychological, medical, and genetic information of 10,000 people with experience of any eating disorder. You can take part yourself (as an employee of GHC, or signpost a patient to take part). Please choose Gloucestershire Health and Care NHS trust when prompted in the questionnaire, so that we get recognition for supporting the study.
You can take part in EDGI if you:
- Have ever experienced or are experiencing any eating disorder
- Are 16 or over
- Live in England.
If you would like to take part, click here to register on the EDGI UK website.
Virtual Reality Cafe for people with eating disorders
About Study: Virtual Reality Cafe feasibility study for people who are currently receiving treatment in an eating disorders service.
Participant Eligibility: 14-25 years of age, currently in treatment under the EDS, with worries surrounding social eating
What Participants need to do: be willing to engage in the VR therapy and complete sets of questionnaires at different timepoints.
For more information, email: research@ghc.nhs.uk
ADAPT
About the Study: The ADAPT (Alzheimer’s Disease Diagnosis and Plasma pTau217) study is investigating whether a blood test can improve the early and accurate diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease. It is being led by Professor Jonathan Schott and Dr Ashvini Keshavan at University College London (UCL).
The trial will test if getting blood tests sooner to patients and their clinicians will improve diagnosis and treatment.
What participants need to do: All trial participants will have a standard assessment in their local memory service. In addition to this, you will have a blood test taken from a vein in your arm or hand.
The blood test will be sent to an NHS lab in London where the p-tau217 protein will be measured. Half of the people who have the blood test will receive their results in the memory clinic after 3 months, and the other half after 12 months. Participants will be asked to complete assessments and questionnaires (either in person or by phone) at the beginning of the trial and after 3, 6, 12 and 15 months.
Participant Eligibility: Many people who are referred to the memory service will be eligible to take part in the trial, but some may not.
People will be eligible to take part if they are aged over 50 years and their healthcare professional thinks that their symptoms might be caused by Alzheimer’s disease. Participants are also required to have a family member, friend or carer whom they see at least once a week, and who is able to take part in trial interviews by telephone or video call. This person will be their study partner.
questionnaires at different timepoints.
For more information, email: research@ghc.nhs.uk
Spatial Inattention Grasping Therapy (SIGHT)
About Study: Study of rehabilitation therapy for individuals with spatial neglect following stroke
Participant Eligibility: Patients admitted to the Vale Community Hospital between 1 week to 75 days post stroke, showing signs of spatial inattention
What Participants need to do: Be willing to take part in the therapy programme, complete questionnaires at several time points throughout the study.
For more information, email: research@ghc.nhs.uk
Getting Recovery Right After Neck Dissection for Head and Neck Cancer (GRRAND)
Getting Recovery Right After Neck Dissection for Head and Neck Cancer
About Study: Study of rehabilitation therapy for individuals who have a neck dissection operation for head and neck cancer
Participant Eligibility: Adults with Head and Neck Cancer requiring a primary neck dissection operation as part of their treatment
What Participants need to do: Be willing to take part in the therapy programme, complete questionnaires at several time points throughout the study.
For more information, email: research@ghc.nhs.uk
Count Me In
Part of the NHS Constitution is to offer research to every NHS patient. To help us ensure that we can meet this aim, Gloucestershire Health and Care NHS Foundation Trust has set up the ‘Count Me In’ initiative.
Count Me In enables us to use patients’ information to contact them about research projects, and to offer them the opportunity to get involved. Under previous policies, participation in research was based on clinicians offering opportunities to our patients. Due to circumstances, time constraints and other factors, not all patients were offered the opportunity to be involved. This will no longer be the case.
Count Me In will enable the Research Team to access clinical records to establish a patient’s potential eligibility to a study. The Research Team will then supply details of the study to eligible patients so that they may consider participation.
No one has to take part in any study and we understand that not all our patients will want to be contacted in this way. Therefore, the Count Me In initiative allows a patient to opt out of research
When a patient is referred to the Trust, initial appointment letters will make patients aware of the ‘Count Me In’ initiative and refer them to this page of the Internet. If patients do not wish to take part in research they can inform us by emailing countmein@ghc.nhs.uk, or by calling 01242 634490 with their name, date of birth and home postcode or first line of the address, and this preference will be recorded in the patient’s medical records held by the Trust.
Should you have any queries with regards to the Count Me In Policy, please contact the Research Team on 01242 634490, or email countmein@ghc.nhs.uk
Performance in Initiating and Delivering Clinical Research
The Government wishes to see a dramatic and sustained improvement in the performance of providers of NHS services in initiating and delivering clinical research. The aim is to increase the number of patients who have the opportunity to participate in research and to enhance the nation’s attractiveness as a host for research.
As part of the oversight of this aim, providers of NHS Services are required to publish information on recruitment to clinical trials and delivery to time and to target for commercial clinical trials. These reports can be found at the following link:
The reports include two tables for each quarter:
Performance in Initiating Clinical Research This report provides information about studies with a date site selected that falls within the last 12 months. This applies to only Clinical Trials approved through the HRA systems. Clinical Trials approved under the old systems are now excluded. The table identifies where delays in set-up and recruitment of first patients have occurred, providing transparency of process. Where Sponsor expectations have not been met by the Trust, this information is recorded. In the table
Performance in Delivering Clinical Research This report provides information about Commercially Sponsored research hosted by Gloucestershire Health and Care NHS Foundation Trust in relation to meeting the Time and Target metric (HLO#2) and includes those studies that have closed in the last 12 months.
Where tables are empty, the Trust as reported a “NIL RETURN” for that quarter, meaning that no new Clinical Trials were opened or no Commercially-Sponsored Clinical Trials closed during that period.
If there are any questions about these reports or the benchmarks themselves, please contact Mark Walker, Head of Research and Development on 01242 634491 or mark.walker@ghc.nhs.uk
Our partners
National Institute of Health Research (NIHR)
NIHR is funded by the Department of Health to improve the health and wealth of the nation through research. They ensure that the NHS is able to support the research of other funders to encourage broader investment in, and economic growth from, health research.
They work with charities and the life sciences industry to help patients gain earlier access to breakthrough treatments. They also train and develop researchers to keep the nation at the forefront of international research.
Cobalt is a medical imaging charity.
Research4Gloucestershire (R4G)
Research4Gloucestershire is a collaboration between:
- Gloucestershire Health and Care NHS Foundation Trust
- Gloucestershire CCG, Gloucestershire County Council
- Gloucestershire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
- University of Gloucestershire
- Cobalt Health
Our Regulator
The Health Research Authority is an executive non-departmental public body (NDPB), sponsored by the Department of Health and Social Care.
They are one of a number of organisations that work together in the UK to regulate different aspects of health and social care research. Their core purpose is to protect and promote the interests of patients and the public in health and social care research.
In order to achieve this they:
- make sure research is ethically reviewed and approved
- promote transparency in research
- oversee a range of committees and services
- provide independent recommendations on the processing of identifiable patient information where it is not always practical to obtain consent, for research and non-research projects.