Patients are “at the core” of a joined-up approach to recruiting research participants across the Harrogate District, as a Harrogate NHS research team has been shortlisted for a national award.

Harrogate and District NHS Foundation Trust has been shortlisted in the ‘Clinical Research Nursing’ category for the Nursing Times Awards 2019, which take place in October, after putting forward an application for the award based on a project working with local healthcare organisations to improve access to diabetes research trials for patients.

The project aims to create opportunities for primary care patients across the Harrogate District to take part in clinical trials relating to diabetes, and was set up by the Trust’s Research Team after they noticed that diabetes research studies were increasingly requiring patients that were not being seen in hospital settings. The approach to recruiting participants that the team have been shortlisted for works with local health organisations, including local GP practices, the National Institute for Health Research in Yorkshire and Humber, local charities and local nursing and residential homes to recruit patients with diabetes into research trials.

The team, led by Senior Research Nurse Laura Dinning and Community Research Nurse Helen Permain, made an application to the Nursing Times Awards 2019 after being encouraged by regional colleagues to share the work that they are doing. They created the joined-up model to provide diabetes patients, who the team has limited access to in hospital settings, with access to new Type 2 Diabetes medications and give them and staff the chance to be at the forefront of new research developments. The new approach to recruiting participants has achieved excellent feedback for the opportunities and the benefits to patients of participating in the studies. This has paved the way for future collaborative research studies in all specialties across the Harrogate District.

Laura said: “We are delighted to have been shortlisted in the ‘Clinical Research Nursing’ category at the Nursing Times Awards 2019.

“We are passionate about delivering research opportunities to our local patient population, and to be shortlisted shows that the collaboration with local health organisations to recruit patients into clinical research has been a success.”

Helen said: “We’re really looking forward to the next steps after being shortlisted, and presenting our work to the judging panel in September, ahead of the awards in October.

“Patients are at the core of our work, and making sure both primary care and secondary care patients and given the opportunities to take part in research. Creating these opportunities wouldn’t have been possible without our joined-up approach.”

After being shortlisted by the Nursing Times Awards, the team behind the work has been invited to present to the judging panel in September, ahead of the awards ceremony in London on Wednesday 30 October.

The Research and Innovation Department at Harrogate and District NHS Foundation Trust supports all aspects of the Trust’s research activity, ensuring it is safe, high quality and carried out in a systematic way. To find out more, visit https://www.hdft.nhs.uk/services/research/.