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National Patient Recruitment Centres

NIHR national Patient Recruitment Centres (PRCs) are dedicated to setting up and delivering late phase commercial clinical trials in the NHS at pace and scale. All five centres work collaboratively, through an innovative collective model, to make it easier and quicker to deliver commercial research in the UK.  

By attracting more commercial research to the UK, PRCs also increase opportunities for NHS patients to access cutting edge treatment and therapies that are not yet widely available through the NHS. Each Centre works regionally, by partnering with their local health sector, to ensure as many people as possible are given an opportunity to take part.

The national Patient Recruitment Centres (PRCs) are the first family of NIHR-funded research facilities to be 100% dedicated to commercial research that is funded by the life sciences industry.

The PRCs are purpose-designed to deliver phase 3 and 4 commercial trials requiring a large volume of patients. They also specialise in delivering and recruiting patients for trials researching common chronic conditions that are often managed in primary, community, social and other non-traditional care settings by their GP, pharmacist or other AHPs.

They achieve this by using proactive and inclusive patient recruitment strategies in clinical trials. Engaging potential participants and by reaching out into the local community, empowering patients to volunteer for research. Through local, health-related campaigns they use a variety of methods to improve patient recruitment in clinical trials. By adopting this approach our PRCs have the ability to reach beyond the hospital’s specialist clinics and offer research opportunities to more patients.

The PRCs are overseen by the national Programme Office based in the NIHR Clinical Research Network Coordinating Centre.  Use the links below to learn more about what each centre has to offer and how you can connect:

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