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Staff in the Research and Development team and Special Care Baby Unit have celebrated reaching their first major milestone with successfully recruiting five patients to this study that has been running for over 1 year in the UK and Australia.   

The neoGASTRIC study is the first neonatal study to launch at Hinchingbrooke Hospital and looks at babies born more than 6 weeks early that require feeds through feeding tubes.

NeoGASTRIC aims to recruit over 7,000 babies across both the UK and Australia until 2026 and looks at whether routinely measuring gastric residual volumes (checking what’s in the stomach before feeding) or not, affects babies reaching full feeds more quickly.

The study is funded and supported in the UK by the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) and is coordinated by the National Perinatal Epidemiology Unit, Clinical Trials Unit (NPEU CTU) at the University of Oxford, England, UK, in partnership with Monash University, Australia. Imperial College London is the sponsor for this study and will act as Joint Data Controller with the University of Oxford for the purposes of this project. The study is funded by the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) in the UK and the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) in Australia.

Kate, whose daughter Sophie was the first patient to be recruited to the study at Hinchingbrooke, said: “It’s been great to be part of this neonatal study, and do something positive, following the early arrival of Sophie. I feel it’s important we better understand how these tiny babies feed and learn to feed as they continue to develop and become strong enough to feed independently and would encourage anyone else in our position to consider doing the same.”

Shortly after Sophie joined the study, the team recruited two more young patients to the study, a set of twins. 

Tracy James, who is the Lead Nurse of the Special Care Baby Unit, said: “We were really keen to start the NeoGASTRIC study here at Hinchingbrooke, it’s always exciting to be part of a research project and the conclusions from this study will have a real positive impact on neonatal care. This is a positive step for neonatal research, and we hope to be able to participate in future studies and help contribute to worldwide research.” 

Peterborough City Hospital, also part of North West Anglia NHS Foundation Trust has recently celebrated successfully recruiting 50 babies to the neoGASTRIC study, which is fantastic news alongside the launch at Hinchingbrooke Hospital. 

Notes to editors:

Pic cap: First baby, Sophie, to join the study with mum Kate.

More information about this study is available from the NeoGASTRIC website:  www.npeu.ox.ac.uk/neogastric .

About the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) 

The mission of the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) is to improve the health and wealth of the nation through research. We do this by: 

·      Funding high quality, timely research that benefits the NHS, public health and social care;

·      Investing in world-class expertise, facilities and a skilled delivery workforce to translate discoveries into improved treatments and services; 

     Partnering with patients, service users, carers and communities, improving the relevance, quality and impact of our research;

·      Attracting, training and supporting the best researchers to tackle complex health and social care challenges;

·         Collaborating with other public funders, charities and industry to help shape a cohesive and globally competitive research system;

·         Funding applied global health research and training to meet the needs of the poorest people in low and middle income countries.

NIHR is funded by the Department of Health and Social Care. Its work in low and middle income countries is principally funded through UK Aid from the UK government. Visit www.nihr.ac.uk to find out more.