Patient involvement

Research is essential to the continued improvement and advances of medical science. It is reliable evidence for safe, effective healthcare and is an important part of care services offered by the trust.

As a clinically active research site, we are involved in clinical trials from a wide range of areas introducing patients to the latest treatments and care practices.

Clinical trials assess treatments, technologies or approaches, whilst other research studies aim to understand health and specific conditions better through testing of new approaches, monitoring or observation.

Research governance sets standards to ensure that the safety, dignity, rights and welfare of research participants are protected. It also ensures that research carried out is of a high quality and is not wasteful of NHS resources. To ensure this is the case, all research conducted within the NHS must be approved by an independent research ethics committee (REC) and by the research and development department of the trust.

How to get involved

Patients

You may be approached by your consultant, a research nurse, or a member of the research team to talk to you about participating in a clinical trial or research study as part of your care and treatment with us.

To see a list of research studies we are participating in, please see research studies open to recruitment below. 

For further information about what is involved in participating in a clinical trial, please contact the clinical trials unit (CTU) at esth.research@nhs.net.

Members of the public (people who are not current patients at our hospitals)

If you are not currently a patient at our hospitals but wish to participate in clinical trials or other research studies, please contact our clinical trials unit at esth.research@nhs.net.

To see a list of research studies we are participating in, please see research studies open to recruitment below.