Monday 22 May marked International Clinical Trials day and staff at Peterborough City and Hinchingbrooke Hospitals illustrated the work being done to encourage and promote participation in clinical trials, with a series of fun events.
An information stand in the main atrium at PCH was manned by specialist research nurses who were able to talk to patients and visitors about the benefits of trials. The team are supporting a growing number of clinical trials in all speciality areas, including new medicines, advancing technologies and patient experiences of different types of care.
“We’ve recently recruited patient research ambassadors to help us better understand the process of taking part in a trial,” says Debbie Carmichael, Research Governance Manager. “We appreciate it can be a big ask for someone who is already unwell, to then participate in a clinical trial that isn’t guaranteed to help their individual situation. We can’t stress enough though just how important it is that we continue developing research in this manner. Since 2012 we have doubled the number of trials that patients at PCH participate in and we hope we continue to expand our work on that scale.”
Hinchingbrooke research nurses spent time with Huntingdon Community Radio discussing dementia research and the growth of clinical trials since they began offering them to patients.
If you’d like to know more about clinical trials at either hospital then please speak to your consultant or nurse about what opportunities might be exist. Or you could get in touch with the Research and Development department about becoming a patient research ambassador. Email: research@pbh-tr.nhs.uk and your message will be passed on.
