Leicester’s Hospitals is celebrating International Clinical Trials (ICT) Day on Friday 20 May by encouraging more people to be part of research in 2022.
Staff from across Leicester's Research will be at Tesco superstore, Hamilton from 11am – 4pm. They will be sharing information about research taking place at Leicester's Hospitals, from diabetes research to COVID-19 studies, offer health-related activities and much more. Shoppers will also have the chance to hear about opportunities to get involved in research by signing up to Leicester's Research Registry.
Leicester’s Research Registry provides opportunities to get involved in health research taking place in Leicester’s Hospitals, or being run with their research partners, such as the University of Leicester and Loughborough University, in their National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) Biomedical Research Centre, Clinical Research Facility and Patient Recruitment Centre: Leicester.
Professor Nigel Brunskill, Director of Research and Innovation at Leicester’s Hospitals said: “Clinical research has touched the lives of us all during the pandemic, through lifesaving new treatments for those critically ill with COVID-19 and the national vaccine rollout which has provided protection for life to return to normal.
“Over 15,000 local volunteers have taken part in research in our hospitals during the past year. Whilst we continue to have opportunities for people to join COVID-19 vaccine research studies, we are also recruiting participants into research in all areas of our hospitals, including health conditions like cancer, kidney, heart and lung diseases.
“Evidence shows that research active hospitals have higher patient satisfaction levels and improve their likelihood of recovering faster, so on International Clinical Trials Day I would encourage anyone interested in taking part in research to join Leicester’s Research Registry to receive information about opportunities to get involved.”
Rachael Dowling, head of research communications at Leicester’s Hospitals, said: “People take part in research for many reasons, be it to give something back to the NHS, make a difference to society, learn more about how to manage their own health condition, or access treatments not yet widely available on the NHS. Whether you are hoping to improve your own health or that of future generations, there is a place for everyone in clinical research.”
International Clinical Trials (ICT) Day is an annual event held on or close to 20 May. The date was chosen in recognition of James Lind, a naval surgeon who conducted the first recorded clinical trial on 20 May 1753.
Members of Lind’s crew were suffering from scurvy, which is a disease that causes swollen, bleeding gums and previously healed wounds to re-open. Lind created a trial where he divided the sailors into different groups and gave them specific items to eat and drink.
The group that had been given oranges and lemons had practically recovered in just five days, leading to his theory that citrus fruit cured the disease. Later discoveries of vitamin C confirmed this was the chemical in citrus fruit that cured the illness.
This event is part of a national network of events held on and around ICT day that are supporting the NIHR’s national ‘Trial Blazers’ campaign, which celebrates the thousands of research volunteers who take part in and support trials and studies all over the UK. To join the TrialBlazers and find out more about the campaign, visit https://bepartofresearch.nihr.ac.uk/trialblazers/.
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Official press release no. 1005
