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Primary care's vital role in transforming clinical research
By Dr Lucy Mackillop
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EMIS [now Optum] is proud to sponsor the report ‘Harnessing Primary Care Data for Clinical Research and Trial Recruitment’ from Newmarket Strategy. This report was borne out of a need for us to explore and express how we are currently supporting, and want to further, several of the recommendations in Lord O’Shaughnessy’s review of Commercial Clinical Trials in the UK.
Harnessing Primary Care Data for Clinical Research and Trial Recruitment builds on the government response to the O’Shaughnessy review, focusing on primary care. It makes six specific recommendations that can, if implemented, materially move the dial to enable and increase clinical research activity in primary care. Our goal is to ensure GPs and their patients have every opportunity to participate in clinical trials, should they wish to do so; while making participation as painless as possible using technology embedded in existing clinical workflows.
The crucial role of primary care
Primary care stands as a cornerstone of the NHS, delivering the vast majority of all NHS health contacts. GPs have long-term relationships with their patients, and patients place a high level of trust in their GPs. As the survey results in this publication show, patients are happy to receive SMS messages from their GP and leveraging this to offer clinical research opportunities was favoured by 93%. Recruitment in primary care also has the benefit of ensuring equality of opportunity and equity and diversity of patient population. This is critically important to ensure that the results of clinical trials are applicable to a wide population demographic.
The potential of primary care data
UK NHS primary care data is the most granular, rich and longitudinal dataset in the world. This is because electronic health records having been used in primary care for more than 30 years, creating a data repository that captures 98% of the population. This data type may serve various purposes in clinical research. It can be employed using data-driven technologies to precisely identify eligible patients for clinical trials; enrich research conducted in secondary care; and offer real-world evidence on the actual effectiveness of medications and therapeutics in everyday life. These three core uses are essential to the health of our citizens, increasing the number of high-quality clinical trials testing treatments in the UK population.
National call to action
Our survey showed that 81% of primary care health care professionals believe that primary care has a significant role to play in furthering clinical research for patient benefit. To support their active involvement in clinical research, it is imperative to include primary care when planning research delivery networks and workforce plans. Primary care needs to be reimbursed for the time taken to actively participate in clinical trial activities and GPs should be incentivised through continuing professional development, appraisal and excellence award schemes. Given that GPs are data controllers, establishing a more transparent and streamlined approach to data sharing agreements nationally or regionally could support GPs and their patients to feel comfortable and confident in how their data is being used ethically for patient benefit.
We have the opportunity to invigorate the clinical research landscape in the UK, ensuring more treatments are reaching those they can benefit, faster. Data stewardship is paramount; finding a way to support GPs and their patients by giving them the opportunity to participate while safeguarding their data is key to delivering this step change.
Access to the full report from Newmarket StrategyAbout the author
Dr Lucy Mackillop
Chief medical officer - Data and Research
Dr Lucy Mackillop is the Chief Medical Officer for Data and Research, and Caldicott Guardian at Optum and a practising Consultant Obstetric Physician. With a career deeply rooted in both clinical practice and academic research, she also holds an honorary senior clinical lectureship with the Nuffield Department of Women’s and Reproductive Health at the University of Oxford. Lucy is a Fellow of both the Royal College of Physicians and the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists. At Optum, she combines her clinical expertise with a passion for data-driven innovation, playing a pivotal role in developing solutions that enhance patient care and streamline healthcare workflows.