October 2021 Newsletter
Date: 28 October 2021
Welcome to the Forum October 2021 Newsletter
Welcome to the NHS R&D Forum newsletter for October. As an R&D community I hope you are all well and managing under the pressures you will all be facing.
Please remember that the community is here to support you so use us to ask questions , find good examples and not repeat any work. A good place to start is our website https://rdforum.nhs.uk/ and especially the resources exchange https://rdforum.nhs.uk/resource-exchange. This has been built up over recent years thanks to numerous R&D contributors from all 4 nations sharing their processes, good practices etc and is a real gold mine – so please keep them coming . This is a great place to start if you are struggling for information.
This newsletter is our monthly means of sharing news from stakeholders, policy makers and yourselves, so please ensure any new team members are signed up. And of course we communicate on twitter as well @NHSRDForum
However you prefer to communicate we hope we can help and any other comms ideas, please get in touch s.haining@nhs.net
Allyson Bailey has made a great start with the next set of training courses – and they are all booked up for the remainder of 2021, but more being planned so watch this space.
Take care of yourselves and each other.
Best Regards,
Shona Haining
Director, NHS R&D Forum
Forum Coordinator Role
Apply by Monday 1st November. The NHS R&D Forum is looking for a coordinator to support the activities of the Working Groups and membership.
Part-time / Secondment opportunity – Fixed term for 12 months in the first instance (0.3-0.6 WTE negotiable)
The NHS R&D Forum is seeking a part time, highly motivated, organised and proactive individual with experience of health or social care research management to join us as the Forum Coordinator.
This post is offered for 12 months in the first instance. The Coordinator will support the executive team, Chairs of Forum working groups and wider Forum membership in our activities.
Working for the NHS R&D Forum provides an excellent personal development opportunity to gain experience at a UK level. Mentoring and coaching will be provided by the Executive and Leadership community.
This role is offered as a secondment opportunity or on a consultancy basis. It is essential that if applying on a secondment basis, you have full support from your line manager in writing before applying.
If you are interested in applying but are having difficulty finalising your manager’s support please send an expression of interest by the 1st November and we will contact you to discuss your application further
For further information and to read the full job description, please click here.
Call for Trainers
The NHS R&D Forum is seeking applicants for Course Trainers to deliver the courses listed below. Please note that at the moment all courses are being run online, but we do hope to return to face to face training in the future, so applicants should be prepared to travel.
- Essential of NHS Research
- Local Capacity and Capability for Research
- Essentials of Research Sponsorship
- Regulatory Inspection Ready
- Archiving Masterclass
COURSE TRAINERS: A course trainer must fulfil the criteria below and be available to deliver the course at least once a year:
Have at least 2 years work experience in the subject area and be able to demonstrate excellent interpersonal, facilitation and training skills.
Are suitably experienced to be able to answer questions around the topic area and to recognise where their knowledge is limited that further information is required.
Are adept at understanding the different needs/perspective of trainees and the health and care research management landscape. This is particularly important as our courses are delivered to many different types of organisation and across the UK.
Are very team focussed and able to work well with others
Are professional and represent the NHS R&D Forum at all times
We are also looking for applicants for a Course Leader for the Practical Application of Monitoring in a Health and Care Setting training course.
COURSE LEADER(S): A course leader is expected to be:
- A subject matter expert with 2 -5 years proven experience in the subject area
- An excellent trainer and facilitator (see course trainer requirements)
- A team focussed leader
- Well connected and experienced in health research management, support and leadership
You will put together a reference group to develop the study materials and be responsible for the overall project management of the study development.
For more information and application forms, please contact allyson@rdforum.org.uk
Training Course Schedule – 2022
We are currently working on course delivery schedule for 2022, please do keep an eye out for this. We hope to have next year’s schedule published before the end of this year. The courses we hope to run will include:
- AcoRD Practitioner
- Essentials of Research Sponsorship
- Archiving Masterclass
- Local Capacity and Capability for Research
- Regulatory Inspection Ready
- Essentials of NHS Research
- Clinical Investigations of Medical Devices
All courses for the remainder of the year, are fully booked, however if you wish to be added to the waiting list for any of the above course, please send an email to info@rdforum.org.uk and provide us with your full name and email address. For further information regarding any of the above courses, please visit the RDF website https://rdforum.nhs.uk
UKCRF Symposium Invitation
The COVID-19 pandemic has provided us with a unique opportunity to promote clinical research, improve collaborations and consider how we might adapt based on experiences from the last 18 months. The symposium event will showcase the amazing work that CRFs have achieved; we will celebrate our success, reflect and learn from the challenges and consider how we can carry our success and collaborations into the future.
We would like to extend an invitation to this year’s UK Clinical Research Facility Symposium to NHS R&D Staff. This is a free online event taking place on the 5th November 2021 to provide an opportunity for us to reflect and learn from the challenges we faced during the pandemic, to celebrate our achievements and look ahead into future.
Read more here
Think Ethics from the HRA
Think Ethics from the HRA is putting people who participate in research at the heart of ethics review by encouraging researchers and the committees that review research to focus on what really matters to those who take part in studies. It aims to make ethics review more innovative, efficient and trusted – building on many of the changes made to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic and lessons from running Research Ethics Committees.
HRA seeks more registered Medical Physics Expert and Clinical Radiation Expert reviewers
The Health Research Authority (HRA) recently announced that from 1st November Radiation Assurance will accept all studies involving ionising radiation exposures taking place in NHS and HSC secondary care settings.
As we expand the service, we are also continuing to welcome applications from Medical Physics Experts (MPEs) and Clinical Radiation Experts (CREs) with sufficient experience to be registered with the HRA to provide these reviews.
NIHR Updates
- 2021/22 Gastroenterology & Hepatology Clinical Research Training Programme launch
- NIHR CRN Non-commercial Portfolio Application service: Information for investigators and R&D offices
- Competition for Higher Education Institutions to develop new Clinician Researcher development programmes
- New learning resource – Understanding the difference between Clinical Health Research, Social Care Research and Public Health Research flashcards
- Improving Healthcare through Clinical Research – free online course
NIHR Your Path to Research
The National Institute for Health Research launches its annual campaign, Your Path in Research, on 4th October which aims to inspire and support health and care professionals to get more involved in research.
Over the four week campaign, a series of inspiring case studies, social media posts and video content will highlight the exciting journeys of health and care professionals, as well as share easy ways to find out about the research happening near you.
The proposed NIHR Electronic Data Capture service – helping democratise access to professional Electronic Data Capture tools
We have identified that many researchers without CTU support lack access, funding and support for the Electronic Data Capture tools that they need to conduct research. They struggle with the cost, technical and IG complexity of Electronic Data Capture services, with many using paper forms and spreadsheets instead. This results in 1000s of studies and 100s of researchers lacking access to the tools they should be using to deliver effective research due to lack of funds and IT capability.
We are therefore investigating the development of an Electronic Data Capture service for those researchers whose circumstances often prevent them having access to these tools and we are entering a pilot of two EDC services over the next few weeks, between now and November the 5th, and we need more researchers to participate in this pilot.
Be Part of Research – Digital Trial Engagement (DTE)
NIHR is currently developing extended functionality for the Be Part of Research website which is planned to be available in Public Beta from April 2022.
DTE will be an opt-in service for those studies on the CRN Portfolio and studies that are NIHR funded, the aims of the service are to:
- Engage research participants throughout their involvement in a study, keeping them informed about the study progress overall, their individual actions, updating them on the outcome of the study and thanking them for their participation – this will be done via an online account with researcher and participant facing interfaces.
- Put study information at the public’s fingertips, enabling them to search research across the UK and equip and empower them to initiate involvement in those studies by extending the user journey on BPOR. Members of the public will be able to create an account, including basic demographic information and conditions/areas of research that they would be interested in taking part in. We will then alert them when a study they may be interested in taking part in signs up to use the DTE service, the potential participant can then decide whether to self-refer to the study. Each study will have the opportunity to create a specific pre-screening questionnaire to ensure only those people who are suitable are able to self-refer.
Contacting the R&D Forum
As a reminder, should you need to contact the Forum the best way is via email which is info@rdforum.org.uk
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