Recruitment to clinical research increases in the West of England

According to the latest data released by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR), clinical research in the West of England has seen a 16% increase in recruitment in the last year.

In the financial year 2019/20, 43,198 people took part in research in the West of England, compared to 37,380 the previous year (2018/19).

Across the country, a total of 732,176 participants took part in NIHR Clinical Research Network supported studies in the 2019/20 financial year. That takes the total number of participants recruited to NIHR CRN studies over the last five years to 3,599,944.

2019/20 was also a record year for recruitment into public health research. In the West of England, there was an incredible increase of 285% in recruitment to studies managed or supported by the public health specialty group, from 5,607 in 2018/19 to 21,584. Nationally 114,139 participants in total took part in public health studies.

With NIHR CRN support, 87% of non-commercial studies across the UK recruited to time and target –  the highest proportion yet. In the West of England, 91% of non-commercial studies where West of England was lead LCRN recruited to time and target in 2019/20, an increase of 18% on the previous year.

Sue Taylor, Chief Operating Officer for the CRN West of England, said:

“Recruiting patients into research studies can lead to better care, treatments and services and ultimately make a difference to people’s quality of life. It’s wonderful to know that thousands of people have given their time to improve healthcare for others. Without their commitment, vital health research that changes lives simply could not happen.

“The increase we have seen in the number of people taking part in research in the West of England illustrates that more people are being offered the opportunity to take part. These results are a great achievement for all involved, and highlight the commitment from research staff and patients.”

Chief Executive Officer of the NIHR Clinical Research Network, Dr William van’t Hoff said: “I am delighted to see strong results of research delivery, reflecting the tremendous amount of work from many different staff based throughout our entire regional networks and in all healthcare settings. The NIHR CRN is truly showing its reach and opportunity to help researchers and patients across the whole country.”