Work with us

How staff can be involved

Gateshead Health NHS Foundation Trust is a Research active Trust. The role of the Research Team is to enable healthcare professionals to conduct research safely and effectively. If you are interested in learning more about research in your department please see our Meet the team page to find your local contact.

All staff are encouraged to participate in Research, you can get involved by:

Research Champions are staff who have an interest in research and want to help spread awareness within their teams and clinical areas and research opportunities. They should know what studies are open and who to signpost to if someone is interested in taking part in research. Research Champions work closely with the Research Team and help to contribute to service improvement within the Trust. Please email the team at [email protected] to find out more.

There are many opportunities within Research that can add to staff members training portfolios:

Good Clinical Practice – It is an essential requirement for anyone involved in the conduct of Clinical Research to have completed Good Clinical Practice (GCP) training. GCP is the standard to which all clinical research is conducted. You can access GCP training for free via the NIHR Learn sit

Associate Principal Investigator (PI) Scheme – This is a six-month training scheme, providing practical experiences for Doctors, Nurses and Other Allied Healthcare Professional to become the Principal Investigators of the future. The scheme provides the chance to experience what it means to work on, and deliver a NIHR portfolio trial under the mentorship of a local PI. More information can be found here Associate Principal Investigator (PI) Scheme | NIHR

NIHR Learn – This is a free online learning platform that allows staff directly employed by the NHS, a UK University, or other publicly funded organisations supporting clinical research, to enrol on a variety of training courses. To make an account and view the training opportunities available please go to NIHR Learn

Partnerships

Gateshead Health NHS Foundation Trust is committed to creating and embedding a positive research culture within the Trust by offering our patients opportunities to participate in research studies. We are keen to work alongside both commercial and non- commercial partners to grow our portfolio of research studies to achieve this goal.

With 440 hospital beds across the region of Gateshead, the Trust is able to provide a range of acute and community services across our key sites: Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Bensham Hospital and Blaydon Primary Care Centre. Our support departments are actively engaged with Research and we have good relationships with our IT, Pathology, Pharmacy, Radiology, Point of Care, and Phlebotomy teams.

The department’s publication record demonstrates our commitment to research, with good recruitment to local, national and international research studies, and clinical trials. We have established collaborations with Newcastle University and Future Meds, as well as strong links with local General Practices and other Secondary Care Trusts within the region.

We have dedicated Research and Development coordinators who will oversee timely study set up including: capacity and capability, amendments, and local governance of the trial. The department has a Research Group where all new trials and studies are reviewed for capacity and capability to ensure we can deliver the study efficiently and effectively.

If you would be interested in discussing the possibility of collaborating with us please email Gateshead Health’s Research and Development Office – ghnt.researchanddeve [email protected]

We would love to hear from you.

Student Research

New eligibility criteria was introduced in September 2021 for standalone student research.

The new criteria means that only some master’s level students will be able to apply for NHS Ethics review and HRA approval. Standalone research at undergraduate level can no longer take place. Doctoral research remains unchanged.

Students and their Supervisors should use the new Student Research Toolkit before proceeding with their IRAS application.

Completing the tool will provide students with an understanding of what activities they can do, and ensures that they do not waste time applying for approval for research that they are not able to carry out under the student eligibility criteria.

Further information about Student Research can be found on the HRA website.

Research passports and Letters of Access

A Research Passport is a system for enabling researchers who have no employment contract with a particular NHS trust to gain access to conduct research within that and other NHS organisations. The research passport system provides a mechanism for NHS organisations to be assured that the appropriate pre-engagement checks have been carried out on persons wanting access to the NHS trust to conduct research. The Government set out its standards in the Research in the NHS: Human Resource (HR) Good Practice Resource Pack to streamline the process of gaining access for research.

There are two forms of access that may be granted to research staff:

If the research activities involve patients or any aspect of patient care and the applicant is not a contracted member of NHS staff, then they will be required to apply for an HRC.

The LoA may be appropriate for applicants who will not be working with patients or any aspect of patient care. This can take the form of an NHS-NHS LoA for applicants who already hold a contract with the NHS at another Trust, but who wish to work with Gateshead Health for research purposes.

If you are planning to undertake research at Gateshead Health but do not have an employment contract with the Trust, you will need to obtain a HRC or LoA (depending on the type of research activity). For more information please email Gateshead Health’s Research and Development Office – [email protected]