Connect with us and contribute to research in your region

The national Patient Recruitment Centre initiative is purpose-designed to increase the UK’s capacity to deliver late-phase commercial clinical research and attract more studies to our region.

Partnerships and collaborations across the health sector in our locality are a key feature of our operating model. These connections, which include primary, secondary, community and social care organisations, extend our recruitment reach far beyond the Bradford Teaching Hospitals Foundation Trust. This means that we can provide more opportunities for more people to access cutting edge treatments and therapies.

Since 2014, commercial research activity at Bradford Teaching Hospitals Foundation Trust has grown by 10-15% annually. Building on this year-on-year growth, we want to do more to provide people across the region with more opportunities to take part in clinical research. We can achieve this by developing partnerships and collaborating with different health and social care providers, so that we can access hard-to-reach patient groups outside of the usual hospital setting. 

Partnerships with charities

At Patient Recruitment Centre (PRC): Bradford we have many existing and long-standing links with charitable organisations nationwide. These charities, which often fund research, are an essential partner in developing and delivering high quality clinical trials. By working together, we can improve access to clinical trials for individuals living with chronic and complex health conditions or diseases. In some cases, participation in a trial can change lives, or even save lives, by providing access to innovative and often expensive treatments that are not yet widely available on the NHS. 

Thriving research ambition

We strive to be at the forefront of clinical research because we know that research-active institutions tend to have better patient outcomes and provide improved healthcare, and this is our ambition for the Bradford community and beyond. Promoting partnerships and collaboration is the cornerstone that supports our research ambition and delivers our success. 

Capacity, capability, expertise, and experience

At PRC: Bradford, we have a wealth of research expertise. Our centre is home to strategic clinical leads in Public Health and Life Science who are based at the NIHR Clinical Research Network Yorkshire and Humber, along with the NIHR's National Industry Leads in Respiratory Medicine and Ophthalmology. 

The NIHR Applied Research Collaboration (ARC) Yorkshire and Humber is hosted within the Bradford Institute for Health Research (BIHR). This spearheads an important programme of applied research delivered through a partnership of organisations, including NHS partners, local authorities, universities, the third sector, and industry. Working closely with the ARC enables the PRC: Bradford to develop strong working partnerships and expand our capacity and capability to deliver clinical trials to a high standard. 

Primary care potential 

Across England in 2019/20, 732,176 participants took part in studies in the NHS, which is the equivalent of 2,005 participants per day. These participation figures were achieved by every NHS trust across England, with 100% of English NHS trusts being research active for the second year running. 

The highest recruiting sector was primary care, with 151,868 participants recruited. These figures highlight how vital the primary care sector is in enhancing and extending the reach of research and in recruiting enough patients to answer important health research questions. This is currently being showcased in the COVID-19 vaccine trials that are being run by the PRC: Bradford with input from specialists from primary, secondary, community, university and social care organisations. By  working together across different health and social care settings, we can maximise our research recruitment potential.

Get in touch

We'd love to explore how we can work with you and your organisation. Why not get in touch?

• Email: PRC.Bradford@bthft.nhs.uk
• Phone: 01274 383448

We are located at:

Patient Recruitment Centre: Bradford 
Clinical Research Facility
Bradford Institute for Health Research
Bradford Royal Infirmary
Duckworth Lane 
Bradford 
BD9 6RJ