Central London Community Healthcare NHS Trust provides a wide range of services catering for all ages to promote health, as well as support and manage a range of conditions and respective treatments. We are therefore very keen to be involved in both undertaking and hosting research studies to improve people's health.

Whether you are a patient or member of the public wanting to get involved in a research study, or from a university, NHS body or other organisation wanting to work in collaboration with us - we want to hear from you.

We have robust governance procedures in place ensuring we only participate in high quality research studies.

The National Institute for Health Research (NIHR), the NHS arm of research, encourages patients, service users and the public to get involved in clinical research by talking to healthcare professionals about research activities in their area. We support the I AM Research campaign which helps us raise the profile of our research here, and follows the OK to ASK campaign that supports clinical research, so that our patients feel more confident to ask medical staff about studies they or their relatives can get involved in.

Research changes people's lives, which is why we are raising our research profile and collecting our patient stories to showcase real-life examples of how our patients have benefited from clinical research. 

If you would like to find out more about the current status of our research projects click here.

Perhaps you or a relative or someone you know who has a medical condition or receives treatment and would be keen to know more about taking part in research activity?
 

To find out more, please contact:

Brenda Persaud
Head of research and development
brenda.persaud@nhs.net

Published papers

  • Evaluating Clinical Outcomes in Nail Surgery: A Retrospective Audit of 80 Patients Using PASCOM-10

    Evidencing the outcomes of surgical practice is now an expected part of practice for podiatrists. The CLCH Community Podiatry team have taken the first step towards demonstrating their effectiveness and value to both patients and the organisation by being the first podiatry department in the country to publish PASCOM 10 - a national podiatry audit tool. In a nutshell, this is the recording of data relating to surgical management of toe nail plates.
     
    Our podiatry department will become one of the largest contributers to the national annual data collection by the time its rolled out across various London boroughs, including teams in Hammersmith & Fulham and Kensington & Chelsea. You can read the full published paper here.
     
  • Pointu A & Cole C (2005) An education programme for social care staff: improving the health of people who have a learning disability and epilepsy. British Journal for Learning Disabilities (BILD). 33, 39-43.
     
  • Cole C & Pointu A (2007) Epilepsy awareness and the administration of rectal diazepam. Learning Disability Practice. Vol. 10. No.1.10-15
    (February 2007) 
     
  • Burt J & Cole C (2008) Swimming guidelines for adults with epilepsy. Learning Disability Practice. Vol.11. No.10. 12-16. December 2008.
     
  • Cole C, Pointu A, Mahadeshwar S, Dudley A (2009) Community Survey of carer's: Individual epilepsy guidelines (IEG) for rescue medication. Seizure Vol.18. No3. 220-224
    April 2009. European Journal of Epilepsy.
     
  • Edited by Bob Gates & Owen Barr (2009) Oxford Handbook of Learning and Intellectual Disability Nursing. 1st Edition Oxford University Press. UK.
    Contributed the following sections:
    Supporting people in mainstream health services.
     
  • Epilepsy Specialist nurse. Chapter 10 supporting people: 394-395.
    Physical health and wellbeing
     
  • Independent Nurse Prescribers in Intellectual Disability. Chapter 6, 210-211.
     
  • Cole C, Pointu A, Wellsted DM, Angus-Leppan H (2010) A pilot study of the Epilepsy Risk Awareness Checklist (ERAC): in people with epilepsy and learning disabilities. Seizure, Vol. 19, 592-596. November 2010. European Journal of Epilepsy.
     
  • Cole C & Burt J (2011) Using Aromatherapy & Massage with clients who have complex intellectual disabilities - a day centre project. Learning Disability Practice- December. Vol.14. No.10.
    25-29 December 2011
     
  • Ring et al (2016) Improving outcomes in adults with epilepsy and intellectual disability: A cluster randomised controlled trial of nurse-led epilepsy management (EpAID).
     
  • Development of a epilepsy risk awareness scale (ERA scale) for people with epilepsy. (2017) Braun A, Kendall S, C Cole, N, Smeeton & H Angus Leppan. Seizure 46, 13-18

Research: Our studies

We are proud to be contributing to NHS clinical research by bringing innovative and better care for our patients, and making us part of the larger professional community.
 
We have been involved in research since its inception and has carried out a number of studies in collaboration with universities and various acute Trusts.
 
We are currently involved in the following studies with our partners:
 
  • The Familial Parkinson's study is being carried out to understand the mechanisms underlying Parkinson's disease due to the similar nature of the symptoms in families. Very little is known about the mechanisms underlying the development of symptoms and disease progression. If more information was available, drugs could be devised with the aim of delaying or arresting the progression of the disease.
     
  • VISION in Parkinson's is a study to identify the brain regions associated with visual dysfunction in different forms and stages of Parkinson's disease and to determine if these can be detected at the earliest stages of the disease process. The eventual aim will be to identify outcome measures and targets to design rational therapies for therapeutic trials to improve visual dysfunction in Parkinson's disease.
     
  • SAFETXT is a randomised controlled trial of an intervention delivered by mobile phone messaging to reduce sexually transmitted infections by increasing sexual health precaution behaviours in young people (16-24).
     
  • EMBARC study: clinicians from around Europe are enrolling patients in the European Bronchiectasis Registry. This data will include details of their diagnosis, co-morbid illness, microbiology and treatments. The data will be used to improve the management of bronchiectasis and to support the development of new treatments.
For more information about any of the studies that CLCH are currently involved in, please contact Brenda Persaud, Head of Research and Development.

Where we are recruiting

Name of study: Familial Parkinson's study

Recruitment target: To be confirmed
Inclusion/exclusion criteria for CLCH patients: To identify patients diagnosed before age of 45 years or with family history of Parkinson's.

Name of study: Vision in Parkinson's study

Recruitment target: To be confirmed
Inclusion/exclusion criteria for CLCH patients: To help identify patients and receive an informed consent. An appointment will then be made with the research staff which will take approximately two hours of the participant's time, as they will be required to complete surveys or questionnaires about their condition. It may also involve giving a blood and a saliva sample.

Name of study: SAFETXT

Recruitment target: 10
Inclusion/exclusion criteria for CLCH patients: Age group criteria: 16-24. The patient has been diagnosed with a sexual transmitted infection.
Key contacts: The principal investigator is Dr. Maryam Nasri, Associate Specialist in the Sexual Health service.

Name of study: Respiratory services: EMBARC

Recruitment target: Five patients per month
Inclusion/exclusion criteria for CLCH patients: Registry participation will be open to all centres in Europe actively managing patients with bronchiectasis.
For more information about any of the studies that CLCH are currently involved in, please contact Brenda Persaud, Head of Research and Development.

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