NHS Research Practice
Hawthorn Medical Centre is an NHS research active practice.
We are an NIHR (National Institute of Health Research) level 1 research practice which means that we undertake several NHS research studies each year. This means that our patients, if suitable, may be asked to take part in research studies. By doing this research in a General Practice setting, rather than just in hospital patients, the results can be more easily applied to the whole UK population rather than just to select groups.
So, what does all this mean for patients?
You may be contacted from time to time about taking part in a study. If you are asked about taking part in research, someone in the care team looking after you will look at your health records to see whether you are eligible to take part before asking you whether you are interested or sending you a letter. You might be asked to complete questionnaires or to give your opinion to researchers during interviews.
Many patients have found taking part in research gives them the opportunity to benefit from cutting edge NHS care as well as the satisfaction of knowing they are helping others.
You are free to choose whether or not to take part in any research study you are approached about.
Your care and your relationship with your doctor will not be affected in any way if you decide not to take part in a research study.
Current trials we are involved in
ATTACK (Aspirin To Target Arterial Events in Chronic Kidney Disease)
It is estimated that there are at least 5million people with chronic kidney disease in the UK that are at increased risk of cardiovascular disease – this trial should give the evidence required to prove one way or the other whether aspirin should be offered to our patients with chronic kidney disease to prevent heart disease or a stroke.
TAPER PAIN (Testing the Activity Pacing questionnaire for validity, rEliability and Responsiveness: an outcome measure for chronic Pain)
We hand out Activity Pacing Questionnaires in our consultations with patients with chronic pain. People with chronic pain may avoid activities, over-do activities, or fluctuate between under-doing and over-doing. Activity pacing is frequently advised by healthcare professionals to taper these behaviours, for example, by breaking down tasks and gradually increasing activities. Despite support from patients and clinicians, the effects of activity pacing are unclear and this study aims to validate this questionnaire for use by clinicians.
ACES- Alternative CErvical Screening
This study will see if a urine test can accurately identify women with cervical pre-cancer and those who continue to be HPV positive after treatment, by comparing HPV detection rates in urine and cervical samples. Only 7 in 10 women in the UK attend cervical screening, the lowest rate in 20 years. It could substantially increase the number of women attending for cervical screening.
Participants will be asked to provide medical history, a urine sample and complete a questionnaire at their cervical screening appointment at their GP practice.
BRIT2 (Knowledge support to General Practitioners and patients: evaluation of the effectiveness of periodic feedback, decision support during consultations and peer comparisons in multi-arm cluster randomised trial)
This study aims to reduce patient demand for antibiotics where they are not indicated as a treatment.
We look at an online patient dashboard showing Hawthorn’s antibiotic prescribing. We can drill down to individual patients to identify where prescribing can be improved. We aim to present the information back to clinical meetings every 3 months.
Clinical staff can also use the BRIT2 Knowledge support system- This is a software application that provides a personalised patient risk score validated against millions of other patient records. The KSS also pulls coded information out of EMIS and summarises information useful to know when prescribing antibiotics. This information can be given to the patient when deciding whether to prescribe antibiotics.
INTERACT- Measuring Loneliness Study
To identify possible interventions that could help tackle social isolation & loneliness (SI&L) in the community setting. This research will also help facilitate future discussion and design of primary care services.
A text was sent out asking patients to participate in a short (5 minutes) electronic survey.
Discover Me
We will send a text inviting patients to enroll in this study. They will need to complete a survey and provide a swab for genetic testing. The patient learns about their ancestry and the study aims to create a dynamic resource of demographic, health and genetic data to enable analyses to understand clinical disease progression in primary care and risk prediction. This study will enrol up to 15,000 individuals across the UK.
Further queries?
Our research lead is Dr Sinead Millwood. If you have any questions about research at Hawthorn Medical Centre you can contact her by emailing gmicb-mh.hawthorn@nhs.net.
