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Digital‑first recruitment at scale: Protas accelerate hypertension trial using Recruit
Digital‑first recruitment at scale: Protas accelerate hypertension trial using Recruit
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Working closely with trial coordinating office Protas, we supported the delivery of a hypertension study using our Recruit solution. Our digital-first model enabled rapid feasibility assessment, site activation, targeted patient outreach and secure record sharing. By surfacing the study directly within our primary care clinical system, GP practices were able to identify eligible patients, send digital invitations, and share healthcare records securely. This enabled practices across our network to invite more than 12,000 patients to take part — all within an 18‑week study period.
Results at a glance
- Rapid patient follow‑up — 1 in 3 patients (32%) were contacted within 48 hours of consent to contact.
- Strong primary‑care participation — 43% of eligible practices using Recruit invited patients to participate in the study.
- High-quality candidate pool — 35,000 eligible patients were identified from practices surrounding the study sites.
- Meaningful patient engagement — Over 680 pre-qualified patients registered their interest in the trial from their GP invitation, with referral rate matched to site capacity.
- Rapid, secure data sharing — 87% of patients consented to share their healthcare record from the initial invite, and GPs shared 87% of these within an average of 29 hours — enabling sites to assess eligibility quickly before booking appointments.
Protas — an independent, nonprofit clinical trials organisation focused on smarter trials for better health — were looking for a more efficient way to run a multisite hypertension study. They needed to reach large numbers of eligible patients at speed, while keeping participation simple for GP practices already managing high workloads.
Traditional patient recruitment often involves lengthy manual steps. Even after a patient has given consent, it can take more than 4 weeks to complete contracts and access their healthcare data.
With Recruit, we’re helping to remove these barriers and drive trial success at speed and scale. By employing the full end-to-end capabilities of Recruit for the first time, Protas were able to leverage a streamlined, digital-first approach to trial recruitment.
Recruit was incredibly easy to use and gave us brilliant real‑time oversight of recruitment activity in primary care.”
Data-driven site selection
Protas began with our feasibility service to assess the eligible, contactable population before their study started. The report gave them clear insight into where high numbers of suitable patients were based, helping them choose appropriate sites and plan activity with confidence.
Once live, the study became visible to all activated practices in their chosen areas. In the first week, 16% of practices invited eligible patients to participate — demonstrating rapid engagement and enabling sites to start receiving patient referrals without delay.
We found working with the team very easy. They were engaged with the project and provided great advice throughout the planning, set‑up and delivery phases.”
Recruitment at speed and scale
With pre‑built searches against patients’ electronic health records, Recruit enabled practices to quickly find eligible patients and send digital invitations directly from their clinical system from day one. Across 18 weeks, participating practices invited over 12,000 patients to take part, with 5.7% going on to register their interest.
Importantly, pace was maintained through patient screening and enrolment. Because healthcare record (HCR) sharing was built into the same consent journey, patients could agree to share their HCR at the point of invitation — helping trial sites to begin screening without delay.
The most valuable part was the ability for practices to share relevant sections of participants’ electronic health records. This provided essential eligibility confirmation for the trial team and removed a huge administrative burden for practices, making it more likely that they can take part in more trials.”
Recruit provides patients with clear, ethics‑approved information about how their data may be used and share. The platform upholds all patient data preferences, supporting fully informed decision‑making.
87% of patients that agreed to be contacted also agreed to share their healthcare record. The first 100 HCRs were shared with Protas in under 48 hours of GP review, and 87% were shared overall. This gave Protas fast access to high quality information for screening and reduced administrative burden on sites.
As participants progressed, 4.8% of patient referrals were randomised into the trial. Strong engagement in HCR sharing enabled Protas to optimise site efficiency and accelerate time to enrolment through a streamlined, digital‑first approach.
Transforming trial delivery
This collaboration demonstrated the potential of a digital-first model. By combining feasibility insights, patient identification and healthcare record sharing, Recruit helped Protas to move smoothly from planning to screening, right through to randomisation. It’s an approach that reduces pressure on primary care, improves visibility for sponsors and supports faster, more efficient research delivery.
Learn more about how we can support clinical research by accessing our Recruit brochure.