Research practice

Royal Primary Care is proud to deliver clinical research through our dedicated Research unit who have over 20 years of experience in running clinical trials and academic research. Whilst the research team are based at our Ashgate surgery, any patient registered to Royal Primary Care can take part in our clinical trials and academic research studies.

We are delighted that we are one of the Leading Centres of Research within Primary Care in the East Midlands. We have a great working relationship with the National Institute of Health Research (NIHR) who we have gained a Level 4 NIHR accreditation from and continue to be the only research unit in Derbyshire with this level of accreditation.

Research can:

  • Find new and better ways of preventing, diagnosing and treating diseases or conditions
  • Test new ideas that could improve the lives of people receiving health or social care
  • Look at the costs and benefits of making changes in the community. Examples include introducing exercise programmes or screening for cancer in certain age groups
  • Help us understand how NHS and social care services can run in a more efficient way.

For more information visit the National Institute for Health and Care Research website.

How can you get involved with research?

There are several ways that you can get involved with research:

  • Simply filling in questionnaires: you may be invited by SMS to take part in a survey
  • Participating in clinical trials: If you fit within the trial criteria, our research team may contact you to invite you personally to take part in the trial. If there are any specific trials that we are running and you feel you would be eligible but have not been contacted, please feel free to contact our research team via email ddicb.rpcresearch@nhs.net or phone 01246 554835 for more information.
  • Another helpful way is to become a patient research ambassador – someone who promotes health research from a patient point of view. They could be a patient, service user or carer who is enthusiastic about health research and is willing to communicate that to other patients, the public, as well as other healthcare professionals. Many patients, carers, and members of the public are already doing excellent work in the healthcare research community. If this is something that interests you, click here for more information.

Current research projects at Royal Primary Care

Clinical trial – Migraines

We are looking for patients that suffer from migraines to take part in a clinical trial designed to investigate new medication to treat migraines.

Approximately 10 million people live with migraine in the UK. Migraines can be debilitating, and it can have a huge impact on patient’s lives. Headaches are the most common neurological reasons for A&E attendance with a recent increase of hospital admissions due to migraines.

Eligibility Criteria:

  • Aged 18 years of age or over
  • Age of onset of migraines prior to 50 years of age
  • At least 4 migraines per month with attacks that last 4 – 72 hours if untreated.

In this clinical trial:

  • You will take part in this trial for up 6 months with regular visits every 4 weeks.

If you would like more information, please contact us on 01246 554835 or email ddicb.rpcresearch@nhs.net for more information.

Clinical trial – Blood pressure

We are looking for patients that suffer from high blood pressure and are looking to take part in this clinical trial to help shaping how we prescribe blood pressure medication.

High blood pressure is a leading cause of heart attack and stroke. Most people with high blood pressure do not achieve good blood pressure control with just one medication and more than one medication might need to be used to have a good control. This clinical trial is trying to demonstrate if the a single pill with a combination of different medications is equally or more effective and as safe in lowering high blood pressure compared with the use of the use of a combination of 2 active ingredients.

Eligibility Criteria:

  • Aged 18 years of age or over.
  • Take up to 3 or less blood pressure medications.
  • No previous history of kidney, heart disease or stroke.

In this clinical trial:

  • If you take part, you will be asked to attend our clinic for a minimum of 4 visits. The total duration of the trial will be approximately 20 weeks.

If you would like more information, please contact us on 01246 554835 or email ddicb.rpcresearch@nhs.net for more information.

Date published: 20th September, 2023
Date last updated: 30th April, 2024