Local Clinical Research Networks
- Kent, Surrey and Sussex

Useful documents

The NIHR Clinical Research Network Kent, Surrey and Sussex is hosted by Royal Surrey County Hospital NHS Foundation Trust. We partner with NHS providers across the region. This includes hospital Trusts (acute, community and mental health), GP surgeries, pharmacies and other healthcare providers. We also support social care research and research taking place outside of NHS settings.

Clinical Research Network

CRN Portfolio

Department of Health and Social Care’s Eligibility Criteria

Early contact and engagement

Effective study set up

Excess Treatment Costs

Integrated Research Intelligence System (incl. CPMS / LPMS)

Optimising delivery

Performance monitoring

Site identification

Study Support Service

NIHR Study Support Service for the Life Sciences Industry

Why work with us?

Evidence suggests that patients who receive care in research-active institutions have better health outcomes than patients who are treated in a non-research environment, so by joining the research community you are actively helping to drive up the standard of healthcare for your patients. It’s also an opportunity for patients to better understand their health condition and feel like they’re giving something back to the NHS.

Clinical research provides an enhanced career path that is intellectually challenging and highly rewarding. It provides an opportunity to spend more quality-time engaging with patients and the chance to learn new techniques and approaches to treatment.

Whether you work in primary care or a hospital setting, we can support you and your team to make sure you have the resources and funding available to get involved with clinical research and make a difference to patients now and in the future.

We offer a range of services across the research delivery pathway. These services include:

Expert advice

on how to make your study work in the NHS environment
about whether there is capability and capacity to carry out your study in the NHS (feasibility), and aligning your research protocol with NHS priorities
we can provide access to patients and the public to give their perspective on your research.

AcoRD

Our AcoRD specialists will help you to identify and attribute costs of your research as part of your funding application to ensure budgetary accuracy; including the early identification of Excess Treatment Costs and NHS Support costs according to Department of Health and Social Care AcoRD guidance.

As part of the new arrangements for the management of Excess Treatment Costs in England we will work with you to complete and validate the new Schedule of Events Cost Attribution Tool (SoECAT) as part of your funding application.

Read the supporting guidance for researchers, study teams and sponsors to complete the SoECAT.

More information about Excess Treatment Costs.

Site selection

We can use our experience and expertise to identify and engage the right research sites, both locally and nationally, with the right participants for your study, including ENRICH Research Ready Care Homes.

More information about site selection.

NHS Service Support resources

We can help arrange access to NHS Service Support once your study is confirmed as eligible for Network support. This includes access to NHS pharmacy, radiology and pathology support. It also includes access to Network-funded research delivery staff (research nurses, data managers etc.) to aid recruitment.

Recruiting to time and target

We’ll support both you, and your selected sites, to meet you study’s recruitment targets within your timescales.

We are happy to offer advice on your recruitment strategy, or suggest alternatives, at any point during the study life-cycle.

Active performance monitoring

We can help you and your selected sites to performance manage the progress of studies. The data that we collect can help to identify and overcome recruitment barriers.

More information about performance monitoring.

Training

We help the research community gain the necessary skills which underpin research, for example Good Clinical Practice training.

Visit our training and education pages.

ISRCTN registration

Researchers can apply for ISRCTN registration via the Central Portfolio Management System. Non-commercial studies with an interventional component qualify for ISRCTN registration funded by the Department of Health and Social Care in England.

Study Support Service

Our Study Support Service is free of charge. It offers a range of practical services including: portfolio eligibility and application advice, study feasibility, set-up, participant recruitment pathways, costings and contract negotiations, help with regulatory approvals and signposting to other sources of support.

Contact: crnkss.studysupport@nihr.ac.uk

Find out more about the NIHR CRN Study Support Service.

Primary Care research

The Clinical Research Network Kent, Surrey and Sussex has a dedicated primary care research delivery team. The team provides support in the following ways:

Identifies primary care organisations which want to get involved in research
Study set-up
Training and development of primary care staff
Performance management
Supports research in oral and dental settings, care homes and pharmacists, among others

We have a dedicated website for primary care practices across our region. The website is a one stop shop for GPs, practice managers, administrators and others involved in delivering research within primary care. The site has information about which studies people working within primary care can show an interest in running and what support is available from CRN Kent, Surrey and Sussex. The site also holds information about training opportunities and what funding is available.

Clinical Research Network Kent, Surrey and Sussex Primary Care website.

Industry

We provide support to help the Life-sciences industry deliver high quality research in the NHS, giving patients access to new treatments. This support includes a clinical research intelligence service and proactive study performance management to ensure studies are delivered as planned. The engagement with industry means our portfolio of studies is more diverse, clinicians and patients have more opportunities to be involved in clinical trials and commercial research funding benefits the NHS as a whole.

Contact: crn_kss_industryteam@nihr.ac.uk

Studies eligible for the NIHR CRN Portfolio

The NIHR Clinical Research Network (CRN) Portfolio of studies consists of clinical research studies that are eligible for support from the NIHR CRN in England.

Useful links

Clinical Research Network

CRN Portfolio

Department of Health and Social Care’s Eligibility Criteria

Early contact and engagement

Effective study set up

Excess Treatment Costs

Integrated Research Intelligence System (incl. CPMS / LPMS)

Optimising delivery

Performance monitoring

Site identification

Study Support Service

NIHR Study Support Service for the Life Sciences Industry