CRN North East and North Cumbria - Impact Report

  • Published: 18 September 2024
  • Version: V1.0
  • 11 min read

View the PDF version of the Impact Report. Please note that this is not an accessible PDF, but the content on this page is the accessible version.

Foreword

2024 marks the 10-year anniversary of the Clinical Research Network (CRN). This booklet gives a snapshot of the incredible research successes that we in the North East and North Cumbria have achieved over the years. This includes increasing research opportunities in areas and populations that have the most need.

None of these would have been possible without the passionate and hard-working research community that we are lucky to be a part of. Thank you to all the researchers, delivery staff, participants and public contributors who have helped change lives through research in our local area.

From October 2024, the CRN North East and North Cumbria will become part of the Research Delivery Network (RDN); a new organisation that will build on the successes of the CRN. We look forward to continuing our work with you to deliver high quality research that enables the best care for our population.

Professor Caroline Wroe, Clinical Director

 

1. Research statistics and study spotlights

We are incredibly proud to have been part of a research delivery community that has gone from strength to strength over the past 5 years. These figures and study spotlights showcase some of our collective achievements during this time.

Key statistics

Between 18/19 and 23/24, in the North East and North Cumbria

  • 346,907 people took part in research
  • 2,621 research studies recruited participants
  • 1,120 different sites recruited to research studies

On average, we fund around...

  • 420 whole time equivalent nurse, midwife, allied health professional and admin time per year
  • 950 hours of medical staff time per year

Strong recruitment to commercial research

Our region is a strong recruiter to commercial research, bringing new treatments, technologies and investment to the UK. Initiatives like MedConnect North, the Investigator Initiated Trial funding awards, and financial incentives to reward first participant recruits has supported this success.

Primary Care statistics

  • We have seen an increasing trend of recruitment activity from primary care over the years.
  • 1 out of 4 participants were recruited via primary care across the region in 2023-24.

MapMe study - Public health

The MapMe study investigated the use of body map pictures to help parents check if their child’s weight is healthy. 

In 2022-23, we supported local school nursing teams by measuring around 7,100 children across 132 schools. Of these, 1,311 children went on to take part in MapMe. Highlights included bringing research into the community and building relationships across local authorities and schools.

HEART study - Primary care

A world-first pilot using a genomic risk assessment tool to prevent cardiovascular disease ran across 12 local GP practices in the region, showcasing a standout commercial research contribution sponsored by Genomics.

  • 836 people were offered the genetic test at their local GPs
  • 108 people saw significant changes to their heart disease risk

RELIEVE IBS-D - a fully virtual clinical trial

A collaboration between NIHR Patient Recruitment Centre: Newcastle and sponsor company Enteromed led to rapid recruitment to RELIEVE IBS-D, one of the first fully virtual interventional clinical trials in England. The trial was nationally recognised as a major step forward in developing the UK’s capacity to conduct virtual clinical research in the context of the pandemic. There was 67% faster recruitment to the virtual trial.

2. People

People are at the heart of what we do. Meet some of the people who have been instrumental in the work of the Clinical Research Network (CRN) over the past 10 years.

Meera Nandan, Research Champion, said: “As a Research Champion for the Local Clinical Research Network, I am involved in raising awareness of the value of research to patients, healthcare and social care professionals in the North East and North Cumbria, with a particular emphasis on dementia care. My ultimate goal is to be a researcher who can bring about real change in this area. This journey for me is not just a professional path, but a personal mission.”

Deepali Varma, NIHR National Specialty Lead for ophthalmology, said: "It has been an honour and privilege to be part of the CRN North East and North Cumbria through my various roles as a Specialty Group Lead in ophthalmology, deputy industry lead, and as an executive committee member. The CRN has provided an excellent platform to develop novel research as well as leadership skills while embracing diversity and inclusion in research."

Professor Yan Yiannakou, Consultant Gastroenterologist and Chief Investigator, said: "The CRN has been transformational in so many ways. Almost everything that I’ve achieved in research in the last ten years has been with CRN support. In 2017, I set up a national research registry for irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) which now has 7,000 registrants; the CRN engaged with GPs all over the country to help recruit. Another example is from 2023, when an IBS trial was struggling to recruit; we had the patients but were short on delivery staff. The CRN provided staff support and our region's sites recruited 80% of patients."

Fiona Yelnoorkar, CRN Lead Midwife, said: "The CRN has enabled me to develop local, regional and national networks to increase research opportunities for participants right across the reproductive health specialty area. It has given me the opportunity to be instrumental in the successful design and delivery of several important studies. It has allowed me to work in a role that enables me to positively impact upon an area of care that I am hugely passionate about." 

Steve Hogg, Public Contributor, said: "I am a member of the Stroke Research Patient and Carer Panel which is supported by the CRN. Our vision is to help people who have had a stroke learn about research and be given the opportunity to take part in stroke studies. We meet several times a year and offer researchers advice on their studies, informed by our real-life experiences. It's a brilliant group of people, we have interesting talks and good laughs - and we can help!"

Ian Johansson, Business Intelligence Systems Manager, said: "As a member of the Business Intelligence team, we not only collect research study data but also data on participants’ experiences of taking part in research studies. Combining this data into useful information gives the CRN, partner organisations and study teams valuable insights that help improve both health and care research across the country and the participant research experience."

Alice Wiseman, Director of Public Health for Gateshead and Newcastle, said: "As a Director of Public Health, I have been very aware of the CRN in our region and the investment it has made in research outside of hospital settings. We have seen the impact of this in public health in particular and we are grateful for the opportunity to embed a CRN staff member in our local authority team. The CRN has actively supported us and other local authorities in successful applications to be awarded a Health Determinants Research Collaboration (HDRC)."

3. Places

One of our priorities has been to expand the reach of research to geographical areas and healthcare settings that have been previously under-served by research. Here is a snapshot of some of our work that has helped us bring research to new places.

An overview of our region

  • We work with:
    • 11 NHS Trusts
    • the largest Integrated Care System in the country
    • local universities
    • local authorities
    • care homes
      ... and many more organisations.
  • Our region covers a wide geographical area and has a population of 3.1 million people.
  • Our region has high disease burden prevalence rates. Life expectancy is 2 years lower than the rest of the country, hence the need for better access to research.

Bringing more research to educational settings

Since 2022/23, we have been working to improve access to health and care research within educational settings. We worked with Bishop Wilkinson Catholic Education Trust to explore ways of raising research awareness among educators, children and young people. We delivered a successful series of interactive research awareness sessions at St Joseph’s Catholic Infant and Junior Schools in Birtley.

Kate Swaddell, Executive Headteacher at St Joseph’s Catholic Junior School, said: "The children found the workshop wonderfully engaging: being involved in an experiment to replicate the process by which the NIHR carries out research really helped them understand the purpose and process of research. The children left the workshop feeling empowered to get involved in research themselves."

Our Direct Delivery Team (DDT)

Since 2021, the DDT has supported over 89 studies in a variety of settings:

  • Care Homes (4 studies)
  • Charities (3 studies)
  • Dentists (1 study)
  • Home (7 studies)
  • Hospices (2 studies)
  • Local Authorities (6 studies)
  • Schools (2 studies)
  • Universities (1 study)
  • Virtual/ Remote (8 studies)

Met-Prevent study

  • The DDT provided home visits to participants struggling to access research centres. With the DDT’s support, the trial met its recruitment target and achieved a drop-out rate of less than 5%.
  • Professor Miles Witham, Chief Investigator, said: "Feedback has been universally positive. Participants have commented on the friendliness and professionalism of the DDT and the quality of data collection and communication have been excellent. The DDT’s efforts have made a major difference."

Primary Care

Our research within primary care settings has expanded over the years:

Praise for work on COVID-19 antiviral study

Our region was recognised as a major contributor to the PANORAMIC study, the UK’s fastest recruiting primary care interventional trial. GP practices across the region were praised for their high recruitment and exceptional support in 2021/22. Hartlepool and Stockton Health Federation, which serves an area of deprivation and significant health needs, did particularly well by engaging under-served communities and GP practices who were new to research.

Effective partnership across region

SOLID is a strong example of a locally led study that aims to identify individuals with advanced liver fibrosis among those at risk of liver disease. Over 1,600 individuals across 17 GP hubs participated, highlighting effective partnership with new-to-research practices across Sunderland, North Tyneside and Northumberland.

Bringing research into the community

We have invested £81,000 in a mobile research unit to improve research awareness and increase access to research for our under-served populations. The bus is owned by Newcastle GP Services and is also available for our partner organisations to use for health checks and study delivery in the community. So far, it has been used by Sunderland GP Alliance, Tees Esk and Wear Valley NHS Foundation Trust, and the North East Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust in locations as varied as Houghton-le-Spring, Skelton and Northallerton. 

4. Projects

We are proud of the many projects our region has delivered to drive innovation, increase research participation, improve study efficiency and support areas of need.

MedConnect North - driving innovation

In partnership with Health Innovation North East and North Cumbria, we have leveraged nearly £11 million for the region through MedConnect North, a service that supports medical technology companies to deliver high-quality research in the NHS. More recently, MedConnect North has expanded to include the North West Coast and Yorkshire and Humber regions, delivering a broader northern collaborative to drive innovation.

Raising awareness of Join Dementia Research

We have a run a number of initiatives to increase sign-ups to the ‘Join Dementia Research’ (JDR) registry. We have provided awareness training to around 100 Newcastle University pharmacy students and worked with GP practices across the region to send text messages to patients about JDR. Between 22/23-23/24, there were 1,574 new regional JDR sign-ups.

Improving efficiency

We developed an automated system to improve the expression of interest process for sites to be identified for research studies. It has improved the consistency, quality and quantity of submissions. The submission rate increased by 100%.

Supporting research careers

Greenshoots provides funding and support for healthcare professionals to pursue careers in research. It has supported over:

  • 220 NHS healthcare professionals, with around 80% becoming Principal Investigators
  • 25,000 participants
  • 600 studies

Evaluations show the initiative is well-received. Participants report it improves research understanding, facilitates networking, and provides protected time for research, with plenty of training and career development opportunities.

A participant noted: "I appreciate the priority given to Greenshoots participants and their projects."

Pioneering a digital solution for the Participant in Research Experience Survey

In 2019, we launched a digital version of the Participant in Research Experience Survey (PRES) which has flourished over the years. It offers participants different ways to complete the survey and gives researchers access to near real-time participant feedback. In 2023 following local success, the digital PRES solution was rolled out to the Greater Manchester region to great effect: 913 out of 1,916 responses were from digital PRES in 2023/24. 

In 2022/23, our region collected 3,911 PRES responses - 12% of the country’s total!

Our COVID-19 response (up to and including 23/24)

  • 111,725 local people took part in COVID-19 research
  • 51 Urgent Public Health COVID-19 studies recruited participants in the region
  • 15% of our Core Team were redeployed to support the region’s response to the pandemic

Funding research to tackle local health needs

The Targeting Health Needs programme funds research for local communities with major health needs. It has provided total funding of £1,403,439.55 to 39 projects between 2021 and 2023, including the Care Pathway Enhancement (CaPE) clinics for people with depression. The clinics assess patients that are referred from primary care, provide treatment recommendations for GPs, and signpost patients to appropriate research studies.

Dr Stuart Watson, Consultant Psychiatrist at Cumbria, Northumberland, Tyne and Wear NHS Foundation Trust, said: "Through CaPE, we can mitigate the barriers that prevent access to clinical research for people who are disadvantaged through their ethnicity or socio-economic status. It is impossible to see how we could have achieved this without Targeting Health Needs funding."

5. Partnerships

These pages show some of the local research infrastructure developments since 2018, as well as how our partnerships and funding have broadened over time. Due to space we haven’t been able to include all our partners, but we aim to give a flavour of how the research landscape has changed over the past 5 years.

November 2019 - Launch of the NIHR Applied Research Collaboration North East and North Cumbria, a local collaboration to support applied health and care research, meeting the needs of local populations.

April 2020 - Launch of Newcastle Health Innovation Partners, joining a network of centres of research and education excellence in England and around the world.

November 2020 - Launch of the NIHR Patient Recruitment Centre: Newcastle, a new research centre wholly dedicated to delivering commercial research. PRC: Newcastle went on to deliver one of the first fully virtual interventional clinical trials conducted in England.

October 2022 - £23.1m funding awarded to the NIHR Newcastle Biomedical Research Centre to continue world-leading research in ageing and multiple long-term conditions.

October 2022 - Launch of the ICS Research Engagement Network Development (REND) funding phase 1. Seven local organisations partnered to deliver a project to increase diversity and inclusion in children and young people’s mental health research.

August 2023 - Launch of the ICS REND funding phase 2.

October 2023 - Launch of the NIHR Research Support Service Hub and the Specialist Centre for Public Health delivered by Newcastle University and Partners.

October 2023 - Launch of the NIHR Health Determinants Research Collaborations (HDRCs) to boost research capacity and capability within local government.

October 2023 - The Academic Health Science Network North East and North Cumbria becomes Health Innovation North East and North Cumbria.

March 2024 - Launch of the UK Vaccine Innovation Pathway’s funding call to encourage the quick and efficient delivery of vaccine research.

April 2024 - Launch of the NIHR HealthTech Research Centre in Diagnostic and Technology Evaluation, hosted by Newcastle Hospitals and Newcastle University.

Sector spend figures

Our partnerships and funding have grown beyond secondary care to encompass broader sectors. In particular, we significantly increased our spend in community care/mental health and primary care between 21/22 and 22/23.

Contact us

Before 1 October 2024: nenccommunications@nihr.ac.uk

After 1 October 2024: nenc.rrdn@nihr.ac.uk

There will be a redirect in place so that any messages sent to our old email address will not be lost.

 

Thank you

Thank you to all of our partner organisations, staff, research participants and public contributors