Patient Recruitment Centre: Newcastle

The PRC hosts world-leading expertise in common chronic conditions such as:

• chronic obstructive pulmonary disease
• headaches
• asthma
• diabetes
• heart failure
• common skin conditions
• depression

Onsite equipment includes:

• a centrifuge
• fridge and freezers
• ECG
• medical emergency trolley

The PRC also has access to the trust’s full suite of services such as pathology, radiology and state of the art scanners.

PRC: Newcastle’s performance in delivering commercial clinical research is among the best in the country. In the last 5 years, the PRC: Newcaste supported 400 commercial studies and recruited more than 700 participants each year. On average, 82% of the NIHR-supported commercial trials it delivered were recruited to time and target.

Its chief and principal investigators deliver research in all 30 therapeutic areas and it also offers access to a much wider pool of world-renowned NHS key opinion leaders.

Through the Newcastle Hospitals partnership in the Great North Care Record and the PRC’s patient and volunteer registry Research+Me, it can support rapid, targeted high volume patient recruitment.

The north east region has some of the highest levels of social deprivation and disease burden prevalence rates in the country, which offers unique opportunities for research and to improve health outcomes for our population. It has the highest prevalence rates for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, type I diabetes and heart failure in the country. Life expectancy is 2 years lower than the national average and premature death is 20% higher.

Regional partnerships enable the PRC to have an extensive recruitment reach. Its links with Primary Care Networks enable it to reach over 80,000 people and through links with the local Integrated Care Systemit can reach up to 1.2 million people across the regional geography.

It has valuable partnerships with its patients and local communities. The PRC collaborates with experienced specialist consultants, acting as Principal Investigators on relevant studies, as well as the wider research community across the North East and North Cumbria.

As well as attending the unit, patients can also volunteer to be contacted about studies that are recruiting in Newcastle and the North East region by signing up to the Research+Me Registry.

To search for research studies in specific medical conditions, visit the Be Part of Research online service.