University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust (UHB) was the highest recruiting Trust in the region for research, according to figures published on 2 July by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR).

The 2018/19 NIHR Research Activity League Table showed that UHB recruited 16,393 new participants across 434 studies, as well as featuring in the top five Trusts nationally for research activity in commercial studies.

Across the West Midlands, a record total of 73,920 people took part in clinical research – the most ever in a single year.

Joanne Plumb, Deputy Director of Research Development and Innovation at UHB, said: “At UHB, we are committed to helping our patients build heathier lives through access to research.

“The quantity and quality of research taking place across our four hospital sites is testament to the hard work and dedication of our staff, as well as the generosity of our patients agreeing to take part.

“By working closely with commercial and non-commercial partners, research at UHB is likely to lead to more and more patients benefitting from new and better treatments, particularly in innovative fields like cell and gene therapies.”

“This is the second year running that we have exceeded the 70,000 mark, beating our target by almost 10,100 recruits. Of the 15 Networks in England, we recruited the second highest number of participants in the Primary Care specialty and the fifth highest number of participants overall,” said Clinical Director of the Clinical Research Network West Midlands (CRN WM) Professor Jeremy Kirk.

“Without all the selfless participants, we wouldn’t be able to find new and better treatments for patients in the future. It is also a fantastic reflection of the hard work and enthusiasm of our dedicated staff and researchers in the region - our thanks go to all of them.”

Professor Kirk added: “The increase in the number of patients taking part in clinical research last year and the improvements we are seeing in studies delivering to time and target are fantastic achievements that are contributing to better health and care outcomes in our region.

The 2018/19 NIHR Research Activity League Table details how much clinical research is happening, where, in what types of trusts, and involving how many participants. The league table can be accessed from the NIHR website via the link below.

There are currently more than 1,000 different studies taking place in the West Midlands across 30 health specialties. Recent research highlights including patient stories, awards and published trials can be found on the NIHR CRN West Midlands site.