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Introducing the Kent, Surrey and Sussex Research Delivery Team

An event was held on Wednesday 18 May to introduce the Clinical Research Network Kent, Surrey and Sussex (CRN KSS) Research Delivery Team.

Since 2018 the NIHR Clinical Research Network has been providing more support to health and care studies taking place in non-NHS and out-of-hospital settings - such as primary care (in all its forms), public health research within local authorities and social care research in places such as people’s homes, care homes, hospices, prisons and schools, to name but a few.

With the expansion of work into new areas, CRN KSS has grown its Research Delivery Team, part of its Study Support Service. The team focuses on supporting health and care research within the outside-of-hospital setting, as most health and care activity happens outside the hospital environment.

Becky Dilley, CRN KSS Research Delivery Manager for Primary Care, Public Health, Health Services Research and Social Care said: “Organisations like local government, schools and care homes want to do research but they do not have the infrastructure and systems in place in which to do that research. This is where the CRN Research Delivery Team can help.

“Delivering more research studies within new settings is very exciting. We are building on our existing experience of health and care research to work with new researchers and research-naive organisations to deliver research for their populations. We will work with organisations to understand their different structures and cultures to be able to effectively deliver high quality research.”

The team cover all three of our counties - Kent, Surrey and Sussex and comprise nurses and practitioners who have experience of delivering health and care research across different types of organisations and settings and across a number of specialites.

The team are already working on studies taking place within primary care, hospices and care homes. Members of the team have worked with primary care practices across the region on the PANORAMIC trial (Platform Adaptive trial of Novel antiviRals for early treatment of COVID-19 In the Community), looking at antiviral medication for COVID-19 and with a local care home on the AFRI-C trial (Air Filters to prevent Respiratory Infection including COVID in Care homes) looking at air filtration systems in care homes.

Professor Lindsay Forbes, CRN KSS Specialty Research Lead for Public Health and chair of the event said: “We know that within research active hospitals, patient outcomes are better. There is every reason to believe that outcomes - for the public, for clients and for people in social care settings such as hospices and care homes - will be better if they're involved in research. It is important to build the evidence base of what works to improve people's health and to improve people's outcomes in those settings.”

Dr Joanne Zamani, Chief Operating Officer for CRN Kent, Surrey and Sussex said: “The NIHR recently changed its name to the National Institute for Health and Care Research. The change in the title of our organisation reflects our widening remit with the focus on delivery in out of hospital settings. I am excited to see the on-going commitment to research in care settings that is demonstrated by our name change and CRN KSS is investing within these areas to give everyone across our region the opportunity to take part in research wherever they access health and care services.”

If you would like to request support from the Research Delivery Team please email crn.kss.studysupport+deliveryrequest@nihr.ac.uk or if you have any questions, or if would like to speak to a member of the team please email crnkss.studysupport@nihr.ac.uk.