CRN Greater Manchester Core Team blog series: Industry Facilitators
The Clinical Research Network Greater Manchester Industry team supports NHS partner organisations and industry partners to deliver commercial research. The team works closely with the Study Support Service, assistant research delivery managers and research delivery managers to plan, place and perform. Our primary function is to support delivery to improve the health and wealth of participants across Greater Manchester, East Cheshire and East Lancashire. We work at a local and national level where the Chief Investigator is within our region, to ensure that studies deliver efficiently and effectively whilst incorporating local CRN GM values: exceptional experience, inclusive involvement and relevant research.
Greater Manchester commercial successes have recently been showcased in an Independent review by Lord O'Shaughnessy and in the Independent's Best of British campaign.
The Department of Health and Social Care has announced Clinical Research Networks will transition to Research Delivery Networks in October 2024. Greater Manchester and North West Coast Clinical Research Networks will merge to form the North West Regional Research Delivery Network. We are building on our partnership with the North West Coast Industry team to ensure a smooth transition to enable us to deliver an efficient service to the 7 million people we will serve. The size of the North West Regional Research Delivery Network presents huge opportunities for our population, for the North of England and for the UK. Our population will be greater than most US states and some European countries. Access to a sizable diverse population will allow us to build our pipeline across specialities and settings. We are excited to see what the next five years will bring.
Our day to day role involves meeting with our partner organisations on a regular basis to review the commercial open to recruitment portfolio, support with studies in feasibility or set up and work with teams to identify opportunities for growth and development of the commercial portfolio. This involves working directly with the life sciences industry and the other parts of the NIHR infrastructure to support regional development. We help support at all timepoints within the study lifecycle and encourage early contact and engagement from partner organisations and the life sciences industry to help support effectively. This includes the National Contact Value Review process, sponsor engagement tool and attendance at Site Selection/Site Initiation Visits. We provide an escalation point of contact for the life sciences industry and Partner Organisations.
Please contact us at: researchsupport.crngm@nihr.ac.uk
Steph Swann, Naomi Charlton, Paula Taylor, Anam Nazir, Hilary Prais
Industry Facilitators
Clinical Research Network Greater Manchester
December 2023
The views and opinions expressed in this blog are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of the NIHR or the Department of Health and Social Care.
