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NIHR Clinical Research Network North East and North Cumbria heads to community fun day to show GPs a path into research

Monday 4 October marked the start of our ‘Your Path in Research’ campaign. The campaign aims to encourage health and care professionals to take the first or next step in their research career and build awareness about research and its benefits.

So a recent Hartlepool and Stockton GP Federation community event for GPs and their families presented an ideal opportunity…. for NIHR CRN NENC to engage with GPs and talk about primary care research opportunities and the support we can offer. 

Hilary Allan, Research Delivery Manager for Primary Care at NIHR CRN NENC said: “The event was a perfect opportunity to engage with GPs from the Hartlepool, Stockton and Middlesbrough area and talk to them about what we can offer as a network to support research in primary care settings.

“It’s important for us to engage with GPs who are not currently research active, to share the benefits of offering research to their patients.

Sponsoring the event offered the chance to talk about primary care research with a new audience, 64 GPs from primary care and 68 doctors from secondary care. 

Dr Yusuf Soni, a GP from Stockton, Chair of Hartlepool and Stockton Health GP Alliance and organiser of the event said: “Having the Clinical Research Network at the event was fantastic, to offer GPs from the area the chance to find out more about research opportunities is important to me.  My practice is research active and I am passionate about promoting research to my colleagues.”

Professor Amar Rangan, Consultant Orthopaedic Surgeon at South Tees Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust said: “I began my first big clinical trial back in 2008. Offering research to my patients, and being a Chief Investigator of my own research studies, means I am always offering the best treatment and care.” 

Hartlepool & Stockton Health is a GP Federation formed in 2016. Their membership includes every doctor’s surgery in the Hartlepool and Stockton area. By working together as a group they can offer new and different services for patients, delivered by the same local GPs who are already looking after people living in the area.

Find out more about the Your Path in Research campaign.