Research

NHS England has rolled out online access to test results for patients via the NHS App.  Viewing test results online may improve patient engagement and satisfaction. It could also lead to patient anxiety and could mean more patients contact their GP practices to discuss results. Making sure patients can understand their blood results online could therefore have an important impact on primary care workload.

Patients need to know what to do next when they receive a test result; if this is not communicated well then patients could come to harm. It is important to make sure that all patients can understand their test result, and that no groups are disadvantaged by the move to online test result communication.

For more information: Accessible Results

Antibiotics For uncomplicated Lower respiratory tract infection in Older AdulTs

The question we are looking at is whether patients with a chest infection who are not given antibiotics recover at the same rate (are no worse off) as those given antibiotics.

Acute cough and chest infections which affects the airways are the most common reasons for prescribing antibiotics in GP practices. Antibiotics are a type of medicine that work by killing the bacteria that is making you poorly, like in pneumonia (a more serious lung infection affecting the small air sacs).  However, most chest infections are caused by viruses, so antibiotics are not effective. Antibiotics are therefore unlikely to speed up the healing process and can cause side effects.  

The more antibiotics are used to treat conditions when they may not be necessary, the more likely they are to become ineffective for treating more serious conditions. Over the years, with overuse of antibiotics, there has been an increase in ‘superbugs’, which are bacteria that have changed in form (mutated) and have adapted to become better able to fight the effect of our antibiotics. This leads to more severe illnesses that are very hard to treat. 
The public healthcare guideline developer, NICE, agrees and generally advises against the use of antibiotics for most patients with an uncomplicated chest infection.

More detailed information about the AFLOAT Study and contact details for the AFLOAT Study team: The AfLOAT study

See research study poster here

Our GP practice is taking part in a study called CAPTURED. The study will look at how well programmes that are designed to improve the quality of care for patients are working.

Each programme will use computer software which has a set of rules checked by doctors and clinical experts to find patients who may have conditions that are rare or difficult to diagnose. These patients will then be offered testing to see if they definitely do or don’t have the condition. Finding patients with rare conditions earlier means patients can get the treatment or care they need.

Anonymised information or data about our patients will be shared with the CAPTURED study team to answer the research questions. Patients cannot be identified from anonymised data. No personal details will be shared with the CAPTURED study team.

If you do not want your data to be used for the CAPTURED study, you can opt out by speaking to the practice team. This will not affect any care you receive.

For more information about the study visit:

www.opri.org.uk/captured

If you have any questions about the study or how anonymised information is used, please contact the CAPTURED study team: Phone:  01223 967 855, Email: CAPTURED@opri.org.uk

Information in patient records is important for medical research to develop new treatments and test the safety of medicines. At Pioneer we support National medical research by sending some information anonymously from patient records to CPRD.

CPRD is a government organisation that provides anonymised patient data for research to improve patient and public health. You cannot be identified from the information sent to CPRD.

If you do not want anonymised information from your patient record to be used in research you can opt out by speaking to our practice manager or Dr Cary who leads research at the practice. For more information about how anonymised data is used please visit: www.cprd.com/public

CORAL stands for COenzyme Q10 in heaRt fAiLure, and is a clinical trial run by the Bristol Trials Centre at the University of Bristol.

Heart failure is a long-term condition that causes difficulty breathing, tiredness and leg swelling, which can all impact daily life. Between 10 and 15% of people over the age of 75 have heart failure and it is responsible for around 5% of all emergency hospital admissions. Most people with heart failure have two or more long-term medical conditions and usually take a number of different medicines every day.

Coenzyme Q10 (CoQ10) is a nutrient that is available to buy in chemists and health food shops as a supplement. It is known to remove potentially damaging free radicals that can harm cells and also has an essential role in energy production. CoQ10 may improve how much energy and exercise people with heart failure can do, which in turn may improve their daily lives.

The CORAL study aims to find out whether taking CoQ10 for 12 months can improve quality of life in patients with a diagnosis of heart failure.

For more information: CORAL – Coenzyme Q10 in heart failure

DaRe2THINK is a transformational project that will test a new way of running clinical trials at General Practices in the NHS. The trial will use health information already collected in the NHS to reduce the burden of research, for both patients and NHS staff. This will allow the NHS to reach new and larger groups of patients that could benefit from new treatments opening the possibility of research to populations that would not have previously taken part.

AF is a common heart rhythm condition that leads to a high chance of stroke, frequent hospital admissions and poor quality of life. Patients can also develop trouble remembering, concentrating or making every-day decisions that can lead to dementia. Blood thinning tablets, or anticoagulants, greatly reduce the number of patients with AF that will suffer a stroke but are usually only given to older patients or those with other health issues.

DaRe2THINK will test if a newer class of blood thinning tablets widely used in the NHS are cost-effective in younger patients with AF and can reduce the devastating impact of stroke and other blood clots.

For more information: DaRe2THINK Trial – Patients & Public – DaRe2THINK

EASi-KIDNEY is testing whether taking a new medication currently called BI 690517, taken in combination with a well-tested medication called empagliflozin, lowers the risk of worsening kidney disease or heart disease in patients with kidney disease.

In a previous large clinical trial conducted by Oxford Population Health, empagliflozin was shown to reduce the risk of needing dialysis or a kidney transplant or death from cardiovascular disease in people who had kidney disease and is now recommended for most adults with chronic kidney disease worldwide.

Joining the study involves attending five clinic appointments in about the first six months and then an appointment once every six months. At each appointment a trained researcher (usually a research nurse) will ask you some questions about your health and give you a supply of study pills.

Because kidney disease is identified and tracked by blood and urine tests, at each appointment you will be asked to provide a blood and occasionally a urine sample (even if you stop taking your study pills).

You are asked to stay in the study for about three to four years. It needs to be this long to make sure this study is a definitive test of BI 690517 on kidney disease which often takes several years to progress.

See research study poster here

The Ensemble study is looking at whether your doctor can check for mild cognitive impairment or dementia at our practice, rather than having to go to a hospital. 

Having memory issues or struggling with everyday things might be a sign of dementia. Usually, to rule this in or out, your GP would refer you to a hospital for some assessments. 

Having assessments at Pioneer Medical Group, will lead to faster outcome and the familiar surroundings may help put your mind at ease, whatever the GP finds out. 

This study is funded by the NHS and run by the University of Bristol.

If you tell us that you might want to take part, the next step is for the study team to contact you by email or text to arrange a time to discuss the study further on the phone.

The study teams email is: bnssg.ensemble@nhs.net

**Recruitment currently suspended

We know that many people get depressed because of stressful or traumatic things that happen in their lives.

There is a treatment called Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing therapy or EMDR.

We already use this treatment to help people with post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). We want to find out if it could be used to help people with depression.

See more information here. 

INDIGO Community: Investigating DIGital Outcomes in a community setting for patients living with and beyond a diagnosis of cancer.

Very little is known about how cancer and its treatments affect the lives of patients, particularly in the long-term.

Researchers at Imperial College London are looking for participants to fill in an online survey about life after cancer diagnosis so that better longer-term care and support can be provided for those who have been treated for cancer.

For more information or to fill out the survey, click here

Join Dementia Research is a service which allows anyone, with or without dementia, to register their interest in national dementia research. It helps people with dementia, their carers, or anyone interested in dementia research to be matched to studies. Signing up could make a real difference to you and others.

Please see the information leaflet for more information about this important service.

This trial is called “Acceptability of High Intensity Functional Training in people with Parkinson’s: a randomised feasibility trial (LIFT-PD)”. We would like to find out whether a type of exercise called “High Intensity Functional Training” (HIFT) is of benefit to people with Parkinson’s.

HIFT combines different types of exercises, performed at a relatively high intensity, to improve multiple aspects of health and fitness, including muscle strength, heart health, and balance. In other conditions, it has been shown to help with symptoms such as fatigue, low mood, and stiffness.

We think that this type of exercise could be of benefit to people with Parkinson’s. A small-scale study, aiming to recruit 57 participants, will be carried out to see if a larger scale study is feasible.

Participants in this trial will be randomly allocated one of two groups - either Group A “Control” or Group B “Active”.

· Group A “control” will continue with normal routines

· Group B “active” will attend a HIFT class at least twice a week for 12 weeks.

Participants in both groups will undergo assessments, complete questionnaires, and keep an exercise diary.

More details: Could high intensity physical activity benefit people with Parkinson’s? | Parkinson's UK

See research study poster here

The population of the UK is getting older, and more people are living with multiple illnesses, taking lots of tablets to manage these illnesses. High blood pressure is one of the most common medical conditions in older people and many take two or more medications to treat it.

Recent scientific studies suggest that too many drug prescriptions together with lower blood pressure, may be associated with an increase in falls and death in older patients. Our previous trial showed that reducing the number of blood pressure lowering medications prescribed to older people is safe over a three-month period.

We want to know what the longer-term effects of stopping blood pressure lowering medications are and make sure our results are fair by including a lot more people. This trial aims to look at this in people aged 75 years or older, who are at a higher risk of drug-related side-effects, are taking two or more medications and have blood pressure in a normal range.

More details: OPTIMISE 2 — Oxford University - Primary Care Clinical Trials Unit