Staff will be at Asda superstore, Abbey Lane from 11am – 3pm. They will be sharing information about research taking place at Leicester's Hospitals, from diabetes to heart disease and cancer, offering 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: "The NHS wouldn't be where it is today without constantly evolving the diagnostics, treatments and prevention methods that have changed the face of medicine. Research is the driving force behind that evolution.
"People in Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland can help shape the future of the NHS by taking part in research at Leicester's Hospitals that could one day help us save lives. I would encourage anyone interested in finding out more to join Leicester’s Research Registry for opportunities to get involved, as a patient, public contributor or healthy volunteer."
Some of the remarkable research achievements from Leicester’s Hospitals in the last five years include:
- Revealing that 70% of people who had been hospitalised with COVID and who had not fully recovered over 5 months made little further recovery after one year
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Showing that the increased risk of COVID-19 in healthcare workers from ethnic minority backgrounds was due to work and home factors, rather than biological differences with White populations
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Demonstrating that a medicine called Nivolumab has survival benefits for patients with relapsed mesothelioma (a type of lung cancer caused by exposure to asbestos)
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Recruiting the first participant in the world to a study into a new whooping cough vaccine for children
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Changing international guidance on managing patients with heart failure by routinely giving a medicine to reduce blood sugar, which reduced rates of hospitalisation and death in this group of patients
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.”
The NHS is celebrating its 75th birthday this year and research has built the NHS we have today. Getting involved in healthcare research could help shape the future of the NHS, discovering life-saving treatments, uncovering the secrets behind diseases, and developing answers to the problems causing ill health today. Last year almost a million people took part in health research in England, which is enough people to fill Wembley stadium more than ten and a half times.
To find opportunities to be part of research near you, sign up to our research registry by visiting www.leicestershospitals.nhs.uk/researchregistry.
ENDS
Avni Lalji, Research and Innovation Communications Officer, researchcomm@uhl-tr.nhs.uk
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