Research and Innovation

The Research Team works collaboratively with commissioners, funders, research practitioners and patients to initiate, develop and promote high quality research and innovation at local and national levels. 

We would love to hear from anyone that is interested in research.

Click here to view the team members
Email us - E: research.enquiries@nhs.net
or call us on T: 01246 515670.

Take a look at DCHS's Research Strategy which set out the Trust's strategic plan for doing and participating in research and innovation over the next few years.

Take a look at our infographics by clicking here, it gives an overview of what we can offer.

Meet our Research Champions:

• Tracey Elder – tracey.elder@nhs.net  Champion for ICS
• Amy Sherratt - amy.sherratt@nhs.net  Champion for PCSS
• Swati Kacha - swati.kacha@nhs.net Champion for PCSS
• Joanne Wilkinson - joanne.wilkinson20@nhs.net Champion for ICS
• Victor Jeganathan - victor.jeganathan@nhs.net Champion for HWI
• Elizabeth Compton - e.compton1@nhs.net Champion for HWI

Click here to find out a little more about our Champions.

Our Champions work alongside the Research Team to provide support and mentorship to clinicians become involved in research projects.

Our Champions have dedicated time for research and are really enthusiastic to encourage and provide support to anyone that is interested in research.  The Champions are now hosting face to face forums which everyone can attend.  If you're interested in learning more please click here for more information about these forums.  Forum Dates are:

• Tuesday 7th March at Newholme Hospital
• Thursday 23rd March at Ilkeston Hospital

What counts as research? Could what you are thinking be service evaluation/audit?  

Click here for information to help you decide whether a project is research, audit, service evaluation or public health surveillance. If the project is evaluation and audit please contact the improvement, innovation and effectiveness team.

• What approvals do you need? Click here for information about health research governance.
• Need to fund your research?  Search for funding opportunities from: National Institute of Health Research (NIHR) funding;  Medical Research Council (MRC) funding; National Institute of Health Research Partners - Click here for funding organisations that meet the NIHR Partner criteria and are automatically eligible for consideration for NIHR CRN support.
• Writing a research protocol?  Click here to access the research protocol format recommended by the World Health Organization
• Need training in Good Clinical Practice?  Click here for information on training and courses available

Resources

Writing for publications

Looking for information on how to get published?

​Whether you need access to resources, training or a quiet place to study we can help you. Click here to access some of the Derbyshire NHS Library & Knowledge Services useful resources and links to websites, training, library books and published articles about how to write for publication.

Posters and Display Material

This YouTube video is about creating simple, eye catching and engaging research posters for presentation sessions where people are actively browsing rather than static poster displays in foyers.

Get a scientific poster template here.

How to find Free Published Research

Free Published Research
 

Millions of people take part in research each year.  People just like you help shape how care is provided, what medicines and treatments are used and to find cures and treatments for the future generations.

Every day within the UK and worldwide someone is diagnosed with a disease or condition that requires some sort of treatment.  All of these treatments would have been informed by research.

If you're interested in taking part in research outside of DCHS please visit BePartofResearch.

DCHS has identified Research and Innovation as an area of importance in delivering our Trust Strategy. 

• Investigating MSK Health and Wellbeing - Measure and characterise the development and progression of different frailty, pain and disability phenotypes and their individual associations in a survey of adults.  
• ATTACK (Aspirin To Target Arterial events in Chronic Kidney disease) - To test the hypothesis that the addition of 75mg aspirin once daily to usual care reduces the risk of major vascular events in patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD) who do not have pre-existing cardiovascular disease (CVD)
• GLAD (Genetic Links to Anxiety and Depression) Study - The GLAD study is a project set up to explore genetic risk factors in individuals who have suffered with, or been diagnosed with depression and/or anxiety. The GLAD study is a way for those who have experienced depression and/or anxiety to join the NIHR Mental Health BioResource, an NHS NIHR funded project which is part of the NIHR BioResource for Translational Research. The NIHR BioResource is a national NHS initiative with the aim to collect genetic and clinical data from volunteers to build up a central library of information about people’s health.
• VenUS 6: A randomised controlled trial of compression therapies for the treatment of venous leg ulcers - Venous leg ulcers are common, recurring open wounds on the lower leg. Compression is the first line of treatment for venous leg ulcers. A range of compression treatments such as four layer bandages two layer hosiery, two layer bandages and compression wraps are regularly used in the NHS. We are conducting this study because we are unsure whether one compression treatment is more effective at treating venous leg ulcers than others. To find the answer to this question, VenUS 6 will recruit and gather important information from a large number of people with a venous leg ulcer(s).
• Erica: A pragmatic cluster randomised controlled trial assessing the clinical effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of electronic risk-assessment for cancer for patients in general practice (ERICA)
• HipDyS: Evaluation of an aid to diagnosis for congenital dysplasia of the hip in general practice
• Cohort Monitoring of the Safety of COVID-19 vaccines
• Profiling the determinants of recovery to establish novel rehabilitation guidelines to improve clinically relevant and patient-reported outcomes in the post-COVID-19 period: This project will establish whole patient perspectives that contain multi-method methodologies, objective analysis via longitudinal investigations to document symptom profiles and to establish tailored mechanisms of support for patients recovering from Long COVID in community settings.
• MK-1242-035: This trial is testing vericiguat in people with a certain type of heart failure
• PANORAMIC study: The PANORAMIC study is a non-commercial study funded by the NIHR, and supported by the.  Antivirals Task Force, which will determine the clinical and cost-effectiveness of novel oral antiviral agents used in the community to treat patients with COVID-19. It is a national priority study, endorsed by the CMOs of all four UK nations and will provide the evidence-base for
  decisions on the deployment of oral antivirals in primary care. With regard to molnupiravir, this would add to the evidence already provided by MSD in their MOVe-OUT study, but conducted in a UK population, who are predominantly vaccinated and where there are different variants
  circulating.
• Catheter II: To determine whether the addition of a policy of prophylactic catheter washouts on a weekly basis to the current standard LTC care improves the outcome of care for people living with LTC in the UK.
• STIMULATE-ICP Trial: Aims to contribute to working out what Long COVID is, how to diagnose it and how best to manage it.  The project aims to look at how care is delivered around the country and compare it to a new pathway which includes using community-based, comprehensive MRI scan (Coverscan) with decision support for health professionals and a community rehabilitation app.  There is also a drug arm to the trial offering 4 different drugs.
• STIMULATE-ICP Integrated Care Pathway: To define usual care and examine inequalities throught a combination of questionnaires/surveys and interviews and focus groups with staff and with DCHS Long COVID patient.
• T2T - Treat to Target in Gout: What is the clinical and cost effectiveness of using a goal-directed allopurinol-based treat-to-target protocol in people with recurrent gout flares.
• SALT: To investigate the effect of increased sodium intake with a carbohydrate-rich meal on glucose homestasis in weight-loss patients without diabetes after RYGB
• Fluenz Tetra Surveillance 2022/2023 Survey: Send out 1200 surveillance cards to primary and secondary school children.  If a child experiences any side effects from having the Flu nasal spray they can log their symptoms on the portal
• MIDFUT: Multi-site multi-arm multi-stage trial.  Looking into the best way to treat chronic diabetic foot ulcers
• Using Primary Care to Tackle Domestic Violence and Abuse (DVA) in the community setting: Questionnaire study asking what is the prevalence of domestic violence and abuse in the general population, and how can general practice support early identification and provision of support to victims of DVA in the community setting?
• GP Teams (How General practice team composistion and climate relate to quality, effectiveness and human resource costs: a mixed methods study in England): General practice is under pressure due to increasing workload and a shortage of GPs and other primary care staff. New forms of practice are also emerging. Our aim is to explore how the composition of GP teams, and the relationships among team members (called team climate) affects the quality of care and health outcomes for patients, and the costs for the practice.
• Determining the Effectiveness of a FeNO-guided asthma management intervention in primary care: a pragmatic randomised controlled trial with nested economic and process evaluations. DEFINE-RCT: an online intervention for doctors and nurses in GP surgeries to help them use FeNO to target and adjust asthma treatments more effectively. 

Acuity and Dependency Assessment: Exploring its use within Adult Community Nursing Settings in England  - To provide an in-depth critical explanation of the assessment of acuity and dependency in community nursing settings, building on or challenging current conceptualisations. This can then be used to contribute to the development of a conceptualisation of acuity and dependency that can be used at a national level.

Long-COVID syndrome: understanding how rurality influences design and development of pathways for delivery of sustainable care. Exploratory study in one geographic region - This study aims to describe how long-COVID services have been established in rural Derbyshire, as a way of informing how services might be more consistently designed to take account of the needs of rural communities in future. This will be explored by carrying out 3 workshops/interviews with DCHS staff members.

Venous thromboembolism (VTE) in elective foot surgery: do we need a prophylax? – The study aims to find out how common blood clots in the legs or lungs are after foot surgery.  Prophylaxis is a treatment to prevent people becoming unwell.  The research aims to find out if blood-thinning medicine is needed to reduce the risk of blood clots.

Developing Health Visiting Services for Families in Derbyshire – The impact of the coronavirus pandemic has been substantial on healthcare systems and services users. Given that the first few years of life are most critical in determining future health and wellbeing over the whole life course, DCHS Children’s services wanted to understand the impact on the service and families in Derbyshire to explore ways to learn lessons and try to understand and mitigate disadvantages which have emerged or worsened over this period. The project “Developing Health Visiting services for families in Derbyshire” is currently in its data collection phase. The project is gathering evidence from families who have seen Health Visitors over the past few years, interviewing them about their experiences through the pandemic period up until now where there are more challenges faced by families such as the current cost of living crisis. The team are talking to staff members from the 0-19 service in focus groups to understand whether there have been any new or emerging needs for families with young children since the beginning of the pandemic, whether service delivery needs to adapt to help deal with their needs and also to understand the impact on staff health and wellbeing across the whole 0-19 service.  For more information click here to access the participant information sheet.

For a list of publications that DCHS staff have been involved in please click here

Supporting you as you research

Health Education England/NIHR Clinical Scholars Programmes: These programmes are part of the HEE/NIHR Integrated Clinical Academic (ICA) Training Programme for non-medical healthcare professionals, click here for more information and check to see if you're eligible here.

Here are some critical appraisal tools to help you evaluate research papers so you can establish if the paper is relevant to the subject you are/would like to research: CASP, BestBet, CEBM, JBI, Sign

e-LfH is currently developing and delivering over 150 e-learning programmes in partnership with the professional bodies such as Royal Colleges and associations, Department of Health policy teams and other arm's length bodies.

Click here for NIHR's website which is dedicated to your learning and development in health and social care research, the website has a wealth of information and resources.

NIHR Applied Research Collaborations (ARCs): These support applied health and care research that responds to, and meets, the needs of local populations and local health and care systems.  The NIHR ARC East Midlands (EM) is one of 15 ARCs across England, part of a £135 million investment by the NIHR to improve the health and care of patients and the public. click here for more details.

ORDA: This is the official institutional research repository for University Hospitals of Derby and Burton, Derbyshire Healthcare, Chesterfield Royal Hospital, Sherwood Forest Hospital and DCHS.  Contains material and publications affiliated to Trusts from specific projects.  

INVOLVE: National advisory group who promote public involvement in NHS, public health and social care research.

I Am Research: An NIHR campaign which aims to promote the benefits of clinical research to patients, the general public and health professionals.

Clinical Trial Gateway: Provides easy to understand information about clinical trials run in the UK.

Funding Sources

How to Secure Funding: The first step to funding your research.

Health Research Authority: HRA and Research Ethics Committee approval.

NIHR Introduction: National Institute of Health Research.

NIHR Learn: Offers a range of resources to develop your knowledge of clinical research and support you to do what you do best. Create an account to access the learning and development resources.

CRN Portfolio: NIHR Clinical Research Network Portfolio.

NIHR Research Design Service: Research project design and funding application.

East Midlands CLAHRC: Collaboration for Leadership in Applied Health Research and Care.

IRAS applications: Integrated Research Application System.

CHAIN: Contact, Help, Advice and Information Network (CHAIN).  Online support network of people working in Health and Social Care.

Vitae: Research Development Framework (RDF) is a new approach to research development, to enhance our capacity to build the UK workforce, develop world-class reserachers and build our research base.

Writing for publications

Looking for information on how to get published? ​Whether you need access to resources, training or a quiet place to study we can help you. Click here to access some of the Derbyshire NHS Library & Knowledge Services useful resources and links to websites, training, library books and published articles about how to write for publication.

Posters and Display Material

This YouTube video is about creating simple, eye catching and engaging research posters for presentation sessions where people are actively browsing rather than static poster displays in foyers.

Get a scientific poster template here.

How to find free published research

Free Published Research
 

At DCHS we value evidence based practice and clinical effectiveness.  In order to support you in continuing your development, knowledge and expertise you will have free access to an OpenAthens account.  You will be able to gain access to electronic resources such as e-journals, databases and point of care tools. OpenAthens is a management system which authenticates access to these resources.

To register and gain access, please click here: https://openathens.nice.org.uk/

For any help on registering, logging in or navigating around the resources available through OpenAthens, please contact the Derbyshire NHS Library and Knowledge Service at:  

Email: crhft.library@nhs.net Tel: 01246 513035 Website: http://www.dchslibrary.co.uk/