Deliver commercial clinical research in the NHS

Study Support Service for the life sciences industry

Access free support to help you to plan, place and perform commercial clinical research in the UK’s National Health Service (NHS) and wider health and care setting.

From acquiring patient feedback on your protocol, to feasibility and site selection, to monitoring performance, we can support you throughout your research journey. Our flexible package of support is available to all life science companies and Contract Research Organisations, regardless of location, study type, study size, or therapy area.

The earlier you get in touch the more you will benefit from our support. Contact us now or continue reading to learn more.

Contact the Industry team

 If your study is non-commercial or collaboratively funded, please visit our Study Support Service for non-commercial research web page.

There are three key areas where our Study Support Service can really have an impact on the success of your study.

Plan

Get it right the first time. We provide a range of support to help you plan your clinical study or trial. All you need to get started is a study outline or draft protocol.

• Expert advice and guidance to plan your research
  Personalised, one-to-one advice to help you understand the UK research landscape in your therapy area. Explore what support is available and connect with the right people.
  
  
• Engage directly with patients to improve your trial design
  Meet your regulatory and ethical requirements with ease. We can organise and facilitate engagement activities with patients to obtain their perspective on your trial protocols, recruitment strategies and patient-facing materials.
  
  
• Find out how feasible your study is in the UK
  Access NHS clinical experts to advise on the feasibility and deliverability of your protocol in the NHS or social care environment.
  
  
• Is your research inclusive?
  Read our guidance on improving inclusion of under-served groups in clinical research or talk to our team about our research targeting capabilities.
  
  
• Research-ready site personnel
  Our dedicated, research-ready workforce of 10,000+ personnel is embedded throughout health and care services across England, all connected via our national network.
  
  
• Good clinical practice training
  Get access to our Good Clinical Practice training, which is internationally recognised by TransCelerate. It’s free to NHS site personnel delivering your study.
   

Place

We will help you to place your study more strategically to optimise study performance.

• Identify sites for your study
  We use our national network to quickly gather expressions of interest from investigators at sites throughout the NHS, including primary care (general practice) and social care. Interested sites are required to respond within 15 working days.
   
• Data driven site selection
  Our national, real-time, research activity data identifies locations with the best recruitment potential, and our site level data sense checks recruitment targets for pre-selected sites.
   
• Faster costing and contracting negotiations
  The UK’s unified approach to research costing and contracting can support your site selection strategy and minimise negotiation time during study set-up.
   

Perform

Once your study is approved, we’ll work with you to get your sites up and running and on track.

• Streamline your study set-up
  We know how important it is to get from approval to recruitment. Our national network will identify obstacles and share solutions, we can ensure multiple sites open as quickly and efficiently as possible.
  
  
• Keep your research on track
  We will work with you to ensure your research project is making progress by monitoring study-wide performance and targeting additional support through our regional teams.
   

Working across the UK

We work collaboratively with our colleagues in Northern Ireland, Wales, and Scotland to enable a smooth and quick research delivery experience across the UK.
 

Further help to access our services

Our Study Support Service Route Map and user guide has been co-created with our life science partners as a helpful guide to accessing and understanding our services.
 

Contact us

The earlier you get in touch the more you will benefit from our support.

Contact the Industry team

If your study is already part of the NIHR Clinical Research Network Portfolio and you need support or help with investigators, site set-up, or recruitment issues, contact your local Industry Operations Manager for support.

“Without NIHR support, I don’t believe that we would have been so far in our journey and be at this stage; ready for the study to go live in the next couple of months."
Jonathan Abraham, CEO and Co-founder, Healum