Sussex Community NHS Foundation Trust has been placed fifth in a national league table for clinical research. The Trust, known as SCFT for short, has been part of almost 25 studies in the past year.
About the SCFT
The result shows a significant investment by SCFT, who are based at Brighton General Hospital. The Trust had almost tripled the number of studies it had been part of, with more than 200 participants spread over the trials.
The trust stated that it felt research was important to improve both quality and treatment options for the patients in their care. Several of the studies focused on patients with complex, chronic conditions such as chronic fatigue syndrome, MS, advanced cancer, and dementia.
With as many as 50 million people in the UK living with dementia, it is a growing problem that devastates lives and adds to already straining adult social care budgets.
Sophia Melia, the Chief Executive of SCFT, stated that the trust aimed to be a leader in community-based research and that their league positioning showed they were heading in the right direction.
The league table compiled by the National Institute of Health Research was just one of a series measuring the performance of hospitals across the country. The Brighton and Hove area performed well, with the Sussex Partnership NHS Foundation Trust making the top 10 for mental health research. The South East Coast Ambulance Service ranked 10th for its contributions to research.
Melia said that it was only through research that the trust could offer the most effective treatments and services for patient health.
Clinical Trials
Finding participants for clinical trials can be a problem, but companies that offer patient recruitment services such as http://www.richmondpharmacology.com/patient-recruitment.php are able to source the right people for trials.
Clinical trials don’t only offer the long-term benefit of improved care for all; they can also give patients access to treatments that are not usually available. Anyone who is interested in being a participant in a trial should speak to their health care providers to discuss their options.
Money spent on research could pay dividends if a more cost-effective method of treating some of these difficult or life-long conditions is found. As the SCFT said, their research gives their patients access to the latest treatments in development whilst improving clinical effectiveness.
