Research and Innovation Department:

Team Tel:  0161 419 5891/ 3

Email: research.development@stockport.nhs.uk

How to find us

There are many different clinical research studies running across the hospital. Our research nurses/ practitioners, research and innovation office and supporting administration team are based on the Stepping Hill Hospital site.

Available at

Research and Innovation Department, Ward C2, Stepping Hill Hospital, Poplar Grove, Stockport, SK2 7JE.

Video Consultations

Due to the COVID pandemic, we now can use video consultations (as an alternative in some cases to face-to-face visits), to help with communication with our research participants whilst protecting the safety of our patients and staff. We might ask you to use our video consultation appointments as part of your research study journey. If you have been sent a video consultation appointment for a research study, please click on the link below to request admittance to our virtual waiting room.

Click here: Research Video Consultation

To make the journey as smooth as possible, please do a system check ahead of your appointment so you can make sure we will be able to see and hear you during the video call. We can provide you with an information leaflet and troubleshooting guide if required. You will be requested to perform a system check when you request entry to our waiting room. If you experience any difficulties then the consultation can be switched to a phone consultation.

Welcome to the Research, Development and Innovation service. Research is the cornerstone of first-class healthcare and is essential to help us understand which treatments and therapies work best for patients.

The Research, Development and Innovation service is responsible for the infrastructure and governance relating to the Trust’s research portfolio. Our team of research nurses, practitioners and administrators support a number of experienced clinicians and other healthcare professionals to recruit participants into clinical trials and other research studies, in a number of diseases. They provide on-going support to participants throughout their involvement in a research study.

The Research, Development and Innovation Department provides advice and guidance on governance and regulatory issues, and issues capacity and capability confirmation for research projects to take place in the Trust.

Our work is supported by dedicated staff in pharmacy, laboratories and radiology.

If you are visiting the hospital as a patient, relative or carer, or are a member of staff, you may be approached by one of our team to take part in a research study.

Our Performance

The Government wishes to see a dramatic and sustained improvement in the performance of providers of NHS services in initiating and delivering clinical research. The aim is to increase the number of patients who have the opportunity to participate in research and to enhance the nation’s attractiveness as a host for research.

The Government’s Plan for Growth, published in March 2011, announced the transformation of incentives at local level for efficiency in initiation and delivery of research. The NIHR has enforced the transparency commitment for this exercise. Providers of NHS services are now required to publish outcomes for the initiation of clinical trials and delivery to time and to target for commercial clinical trials.

Our latest performance reports can be seen by clicking the link below:

https://ccfctp.nihr.ac.uk/public-trustsubmissions/stockport-nhs-foundation-trust-1121

Our main areas of research are:

- Anaesthetics and Critical Care

- Cancer

- Cardiology

- Children (Paediatrics)

- Ear, Nose and Throat

- Gastroenterology

- Health Services Delivery

- Hepatology

- Infectious Disease (including COVID-19 studies)

- Musculoskeletal (Orthopaedics and Rheumatology)

- Ophthalmology

- Renal Disorders

- Reproductive Health (Including Maternity)

- Respiratory Medicine

- Stroke

- Surgery

- Vaccine Research

We are always looking at the possibility of conducting research in new areas. We also provide education to the staff and students we work alongside.

There are several ways you can be involved in research: as a participant if you are being treated for a particular disease; as a healthy volunteer; as a relative or carer of a patient. If you are a member of staff, you may be part of a research team, or you may be asked to participate in a study about your role.

When being treated in our hospital, you may be invited to take part in one of the many research studies we are undertaking. You may be approached by your consultant or specialist nurse, or by another member of the research team. Please note that Stockport is a research active Trust and research is a key priority for the hospital. We actively support health and care research to expand the options available to our patients.

You will be given written information about the study and a member of the research team will discuss this with you. You will be given time to read the information and the opportunity to ask questions.

For some studies you may need to attend extra visits. This will be explained to you.

Participation in research is always voluntary, and if you decide not to take part you will always receive current standard care.

The NHS National Institute for Health Research is a source of a wealth of information relating to clinical research. To find out more, please visit: https://www.nihr.ac.uk/.

Participant Information and Health and Care Research

Please visit the Health Research Authority website: https://www.hra.nhs.uk/information-about-patients/. This provides details around how participant information and data may be used for research, how information may be kept for future research and your choices about health and care research.

Use of Medical Records for the POOL Study at Stockport

(Medical Record Info Leaflet, v1.2 IRAS Number 238743)

This study plans to answer the question about the safety of waterbirths. The study is collecting data on the births of all women in around 30 maternity units across the UK until August 2021.

The study will determine

- how many women are using birth pools
- how many women give birth in water
- whether mothers or their babies come to any extra harm as a result of waterbirth

The study will include women giving birth to their first baby and women giving birth to a subsequent child.

For babies that need specialist care after birth, the study will also use data held by the National Neonatal Research Database (NNRD). This will mean securely sending their NHS number and other identifiers to the NNRD so that we can find them in their database.

All of the information will then be securely sent to the Cardiff University research team.This will be anonymised and we will not be able to identify any mother or child.

 If you do not wish for the research team to have any access to your or your child’s medical records for the purpose of the POOL study, please inform your midwife. If you would prefer to contact the unit please email Research.Development@stockport.nhs.uk or call 0161 419 5891/ 3.

For more information about the research project:

Web page:

https://www.cardiff.ac.uk/centre-for-trials-research/research/studies-and-trials/view/pool

Email: POOLStudy@cardiff.ac.uk