NNUH in national top 25 for patients taking part in research
The Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital has been revealed to be one of the top 25 Trusts in the country for patients participating in research, according to the annual National Institute of Health Research (NIHR) Research Activity League Table.
Over 4,000 people took part in health research at the Trust over the past year, a 21% increase on 2017/18. This rise, of over 700, puts the NNUH second in the region and 23rd nationally for total participants, up from 37th last year.
The Research Activity League Table is published by the NIHR annually to detail research activity across all NHS trusts and CCGs in England. The table provides a picture of how much clinical research is happening in which NHS organisations, and involving how many patients.
NHS trusts in East Anglia in particular saw an enormous 80% increase research activity compared to 65% of NHS trusts nationally.
Helen Macdonald, Chief Operating Officer for the NIHR’s Clinical Research Network in the Eastern region, which is hosted by NNUH, praised teams, saying:
“It is fantastic to once again see the Eastern region playing such a strong national role in health and social care research. To have such a significant increase in the number of studies taking place shows that research in the region is thriving. It is also testament to the continued hard work and dedication of the research teams and health professionals who do so much to develop better treatments and care for patients now and in the future.”
Jonathan Sheffield, Chief Executive Officer of the NIHR Clinical Research Network, added: “The number of patients taking part in research this year is a significant step towards meeting the NHS Long Term Plan, of one million people being registered as interested in taking part in research by 2024. I would like to thank all those hard working NHS staff who are supporting the delivery of research in addition to their clinical duties, as we could not achieve these results without you.”
The table sits on the NIHR website at www.nihr.ac.uk/nihrleaguetable, accessible to anyone wanting to understand how much research activity is happening in their local trust or CCG.