Cementing a change of direction in UK health research, the National Institute for Health and Care Research has officially launched its new Research Delivery Network which replaces the old Clinical Research Network.

The RDN has been set up to respond to the changing tides in health and care research, with the overarching aim of making the UK a more attractive place to conduct research.

Transition

Although the transition between the CRN and the RDN is an ongoing process, actions are being taken already to deliver on government priorities.

The RDN has already implemented the terms and conditions for sponsors to be eligible for its support, while the sponsor engagement tool is being further developed to provide sponsors with a more effective way of sharing study progress – this is to maximise data quality and accuracy.

Also in development is a site ID service which will bring together clinical research activity and infrastructure data to give sponsors the ability to identify and connect with locations across the health and care system.

The RDN is also set to deliver the next stage of the National Contract Value Review, which has already shown it can reduce study set up times. The network also provides a personalised management service to the organisations with particularly large research footprints in the UK.

Going forward

The RDN will ultimately look to build on the successes of the CRN, which include delivering research involving more than 10 million people across over 20,000 studies – 6,000 of which were commercial.

The CRN also helped recruit for three major Covid-19 trials:

• RECOVERY
• PRINCIPLE
• PANORAMIC

It was learnings from the PANORAMIC trial that suggested the UK focus more on primary care research when preparing for the next pandemic.

Conducting more research in primary care settings – as well as community and residential care settings – is another goal for the NIHR, as the organisation looks to bring research to more people and therefore away from just secondary care.

Consistent, continuous improvement

Interim executive director at the NIHR RDN, Professor Andrew Ustianowski, described ‘working as one’ as the cornerstone of success. “By pooling resources, working smarter and continuing to work as part of the broader system, we will unlock the full potential of UK research delivery,” he said.

CEO at the NIHR, Professor Lucy Chappell, added: “Research delivery is taking place in more settings than before and as part of that change we need to be more strategic across our regions, and united as we drive consistent, continuous improvement.

“With this new organisation in place, I look forward to seeing more high-quality health and care research studies successfully delivered, resulting in improvements in health for all communities.”

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