A research nursing team from University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust has been shortlisted in this year’s Nursing Times Awards.
The 24/7 Research Nursing Team, based at the NIHR Surgical Reconstruction and Microbiology Research Centre (SRMRC) in Birmingham, has been shortlisted in the Clinical Research Nursing Category.
The team, working in the Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham, are currently running over 40 trials covering nine specialities including Neuro Trauma, Trauma and Orthopaedics, Critical Care and Emergency and Pre-Hospital Medicine and are able to recruit patients around the clock.
They believe that research should be part of everyday clinical practice for every patient admitted to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham.
Sister Amy Bamford, Senior Research Sister and Research Nurse Team lead, said: “We are there to ensure that even the sickest patients, no matter what their injuries or when they are admitted, have the opportunity to join a study and contribute to advancing scientific understanding, improving care and shaping the treatments of the future.”
The team was created in 2012 and has gone from strength to strength. They began recruiting to 12-15 studies in their first year, to 40 studies in 2017. They have been named as ‘top recruiters’ on more than one occasion, one such trial being the REST trial which investigates new ways of treating patients with respiratory failure.
The team also work with some of the biggest national and international pharmaceutical companies such as AstraZeneca, GlaxoSmithKline, BHR Pharma and Vasopharm GmbH. They also recruit to studies run by universities and the Ministry of Defence.
“The NHS is there for us 24 hours a day all year round and so is our Research Nursing Team,” continued Sister Bamford. “The 24/7 nurses ensure that research in trauma and emergency care – often a problematic area to facilitate trials – has become embedded as part of normal clinical care and fundamental in the patient journey.”
Professor Jeremy Kirk, Clinical Director of the Clinical Research Network West Midlands, said: “The team at UHB is to be applauded for their work to ensure that clinical research is embedded in their everyday work and for the numerous opportunities to participate in research that they offer to patients. We congratulate them on being shortlisted for this award and wish them the very best of luck.”
