On the 11th March 2020, the World Health Organisation declared Covid-19 a pandemic. Since then, a staggering 1,074,791 people at 5,559 sites across the UK have taken part in Covid-19 research. We’ve embarked on the biggest mass vaccination programme of our time, thanks to 34,527 volunteers taking part in vaccine trials.
Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust has supported an incredible 3,152 local participants to join this national effort, primarily through the Research Delivery Team, based at the Institute of Mental Health.
Ordinarily, the team manage research in the Trust, from local small-scale projects, to national, international, and commercial studies, across all services, especially mental health. But in the last year they’ve had to adapt to working in roles or teams different to their own, including vaccination clinics and Covid testing laboratories. They’ve made a significant contribution to the national effort to focus on urgent public health studies, whilst safely managing Nottinghamshire Healthcare’s existing programme of clinical research.
Sandra Simpson, Research Delivery Officer recalls the day the Institute closed:
“It was like your last day of school, but with no warning or proper ending. We had to make on the spot decisions about what could be left in the office and what we needed to take home to keep studies running – even down to whether you needed an office chair! It was surreal.”
Safely delivering research
Pre-lockdown, Sandra was the local lead for the BrightMind trial, a national study exploring the potential benefits of transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) in depression. Participants are required to have MRI scans and attend regular screening appointments, in addition to visiting the clinic for TMS. Initially paused, BrightMind is just one example of how the study team have adapted their procedures to deliver research safely.
“The safety of trial participants is paramount, so BrightMind has adapted to COVID by going ‘virtual’ for assessments and reducing the number of ‘in person’ visits required. Treatment and scan teams have spaced out their appointments to allow for thorough cleaning between each one.”
Adapting to change
Across the NHS, staff are having to work in areas they’re unfamiliar with, to support their colleagues and keep services running. Research Delivery Nurse Veronica French is usually based in a local mental health team, supporting service users to take part in research. As the focus shifted to urgent public health studies, Veronica, along with several other members of the team, volunteered to work on the SIREN study, processing blood samples in a laboratory setting.
“At first it was really daunting – I never imagined in my years as a mental health nurse that I’d ever be doing something like this. I haven’t really processed it yet, because we’ve been so busy, but I know at some point I’ll look back and think “did I really do that?” I’m incredibly proud to have been part of research during this extraordinary time.”
Celebrating success
One study which has performed exceptionally well throughout the pandemic is STADIA, led by Chief Investigator, Professor Kapil Sayal. STADIA, funded by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) is trialling an additional assessment tool to be used during referrals to Child & Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS), recruiting over 500 participants nationwide, 200 from Nottinghamshire Healthcare alone. The local team have been commended by the NIHR for their continued efforts in making the study a success during a difficult year.
“This considerable achievement has been enabled by the online nature of the delivery of the study activities and the intervention. All contacts with participants are done by telephone, email and online. It has therefore been possible for the study researchers to continue all aspects of the trial whilst working remotely. This has been very helpful in recent months but will also continue to be a major benefit going forwards. The focus of the trial, on remote assessment in CAMHS, is also now especially timely as clinical services have had to adopt new ways of working due to the pandemic.” Professor Kapil Sayal.
Kapil goes on to praise the work of local study lead, Paula Brown, and colleagues at the Research Delivery Team:
"Paula and the team have been absolutely amazing since STADIA started and have very impressively addressed and overcome so many unanticipated challenges over the past 18 months. That we are the first site to recruit 200 participants speaks volumes!"
Public involvement
Public involvement is essential to our work here at the Institute and has continued to have an impact on our activities throughout the last year. Our Public Involvement Co-ordinator, Kate Horton is considering the next phase of the path out of lockdown. Kate will be writing more on that later, but says,
“I want to reflect on what we’ve learnt over the last year and ensure we get the next steps right. We value our contributors and don’t want them to feel left behind when we begin to resume contact.”
So, as we look back on this extraordinary year, we’d like to say thank you to the Research Delivery Team, who rolled up their sleeves and took on these unfamiliar challenges, along with the Trust’s Research and Evidence Team. We’d also like to thank everyone who made this research possible, especially the 1000s of local people who took part or contributed behind the scenes. Each time someone participates in Covid-19 research, we move a step closer to putting the pandemic behind us. Thank you.