More than 300 people were recruited to ground-breaking research studies last year thanks to the hard work of Walsall staff.

Walsall Healthcare NHS Trust launched its Faculty of Research and Clinical Education (FORCE) on International Clinical Trials Day in May 2020.

This week, to mark International Clinical Trials Day (20 May ), staff will be on hand highlighting the opportunities for patients and staff to be part of research.

There are currently 20 studies open to recruitment at Walsall.

Catherine Dexter, Research and Development Manager at the Trust, said: “Last year we recruited 343 participants from 19 different studies across the following specialties: Critical Care, Oncology, Surgery, Dermatology, Cardiology, Neonatal, Maternity, Microbiology, Emergency Care, Rheumatology and Endocrinology.

“We also had the highest-ever commercial recruitment for Walsall with 84 commercial recruits with Cardiology and Dermatology driving this.

“Another one of our big successes came when we recruited the first patient in Europe to a Dermatology drug trial.

“We also took part in new gastro drug trials for Crohn’s and Ulcerative Colitis- the first at Walsall for a long time.”

In addition, the team has recruited 15 patients to the NHS Cancer Vaccine Launch Pad (CVLP). This is a platform that will speed up access to messenger ribonucleic acid (mRNA) personalised cancer vaccine clinical trials for people who have been diagnosed with cancer.
It will also accelerate the development of cancer vaccines as a form of cancer treatment.

Catherine added: “Another key study is the blood-borne viruses opt-out testing in emergency departments (ED).
“As part of a research initiative, every patient attending ED having bloods will be screened for blood borne viruses such as HIV and Hepatitis. This supports our population in receiving early intervention and diagnosis.
“So as you can see, we have had another busy and productive year.

“Moving forward we are passionate about ensuring we offer an equitable service that meets our population’s needs.
“We will be focusing on increasing the representation of patients from diverse ethnic groups in trials, particularly our Asian/Asian British population.

“We have also submitted a capital funding bid to have our own research space in the hospital where we can see patients, hopefully this is granted and we can look forward to building works in the near future.”

The team is having a stand outside Costa Coffee at Walsall Manor Hospital from 11am until 2pm every day this week for people to find out more.