Cardiovascular Research 2018 Handbook

This is a handbook for current and future medical researchers. The research process can appear daunting but there are many resources available to help with designing and conducting studies. The UK is a world-leader in healthcare research and has many characteristics that facilitate medical research, not least the National Health Service....

The National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) is funded by the Department of Health to improve the health and wealth of the nation through research. It plays a key role in the Government’s strategy for economic growth, attracting investment by the life-sciences industries through its world-class infrastructure for health research....

Randomised, controlled trials tend to be carried out on carefully selected patients using strict inclusion criteria with close monitoring throughout a study. This means results may have limited relevance to everyday clinical practice. To counter this, it has been proposed that integrated, comparative, effectiveness trials are carried out. These would involve more representative patients and be conducted in much less restricted environments....

The Institute of Cardiovascular Medicine and Science (ICMS) is a world-class body set up to improve outcomes in cardiovascular medicine drawing on the combined clinical expertise of its founding partners: Royal Brompton and Harefield NHS Foundation Trust (RB&HFT) and Liverpool Heart and Chest Hospital NHS Foundation Trust (LHCH). ...

The UK currently has a leading role in healthcare research, with the partnership between industry, academia and healthcare organisations being key to its success. This brings many benefits to the nation. Patients can gain early access to innovative treatments via participation in trials. This, in turn, provides information to UK bodies regarding the effectiveness of interventions. The Early Access to Medicines Scheme further supports this process and also means that once a product is generally available, the clinical expertise in its use already exists....

Much is unclear regarding the future relationship with the European Union (EU) following Brexit. The UK government has made it clear that it wishes to build a new, deep and special partnership with the EU. In preparing to leave the EU, with regard to scientific research, one of the UK’s core objectives is to “seek agreement to continue to collaborate with European partners on major science, research, and technology initiatives”.1...

Conducting clinical research is an ambition of many cardiologists and academic clinicians. Over the past decade, the NHS has indicated that research is a clear priority in improving healthcare for patients. The processes leading to permission to start a clinical trial in the UK are, however, often poorly understood, and can be labyrinthine (figure 2), lengthy and fraught with difficulty. To share their knowledge of how to start a clinical trial, two investigators wrote an article for the BJC (doi:10.5837/bjc.2016.007) about the different organisations involved and about the essential documents and communication required using a case study to illustrate the various stages of the process....

Contact details for some of the UK organisations funding cardiovascular research...