Clinical Research Practitioners: Updates

June 2024

Please find the CRP Bulletin for June which this month includes; 

• Celebrating the AHCS Chair's Awards 

• Launch of CRP Clinical Competencies Toolkit 

• Experienced Practitioner Gateway 

• CRP drop in sessions 

• RDF24 - R&D Forum Conference 

February 2024

Please find the CRP Bulletin for February which this month includes;

• The CRP Community Website

• Information about mentoring workshops

• Can you be a Research Delivery Leader

September 2023

Please find the CRP Bulletin for September which this month includes;

• Information about CRP drop in sessions

• Information about our CRP Engagement Leads, with some new members and some changes.   

• several courses to check out

• And some information about CRPs on social media

06 June 2023

Please find the CRP Bulletin for May/June which this month includes

• an article by the winner of the Advancing Healthcare Awards CRP award

• the filmed recordings of the March 2023 CRP conference

• a reminder of the upcoming CRP drop in sessions

13 April 2023

Please find the CRP Conference Special  for the CRP Conference on the 7th of March 2023

22 December 2022

Please find the CRP Bulletin for December this includes:

•  update on the Experienced Practitioner Gateway to CRP Registration. 

03 October 2022

Please follow this link for the September CRP Bulletin.

The bulletin this month includes

• the launch of the new CRP sites.  

• survey results - on the time taken to complete an application to the CRP Accredited Register

• the CRP Directory renewal process

08 August 2022

Please find the link for the latest CRP Bulletin. which this month includes 

• Looking back at the successful I Support CRP Registration campaign

• The launch of a CRP support programme at Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust

• Advice for those CRPs who are waiting for the gateway for experienced practitioners to open

14 June 2022

Please find the May Bulletin for CRP accredited register newsletter.

08 March 2022

Please find the February bulletin for CRP accredited register newsletter.

It is great to see an article from our local CRP Rhianne Bostock regarding how you could support the professional development of your colleagues in the bulletin.

03 December 2021

The Academy for Healthcare Science team are now sending out a monthly newsletter to those on the CRP Directory with the aim involving more from the CRP community of practice to join the Directory, building the CRP community on NIHR Learn, signposting to both CPD opportunities and wellbeing resources and of encouraging application to the accredited register.  

This is the most recent issue for your information and on this page you can also subscribe to make sure you do not miss any future issues.

19th October 2021

Thank you to those who managed to attend the CRP Local event on the 6th October 2021, the video for this event is now on the WFD site here. Also on the East Midlands CRP site is the Q&A from the event and also the breakout session feedback regarding the training and development needs of the CRPs.

We have now reached 1000 CRPs on the national directory, you can read more about this here.

More exciting news ! we now have a resources section on the CRP site where you can find resources to help with your development and also application from other CRPs in the region, if you feel you have something to contribute please get in touch with alison.raynor@nihr.ac.uk

29th July 2021

CLINICAL RESEARCH PRACTITIONERS: A CELEBRATION EVENT

We are very excited to announce that we will be holding a virtual celebration event on the 6 October from 12 - 2pm.

SAVE THE DATE - 6 October 2021 12 - 2pm

At the event we will be hearing about the 

• The contribution of the CRPs in the East Midlands

• Hearing from our nominated CRPs for the 'Outstanding Achievement by a CRP award' and our regional winner  

• Looking at the CRP role in different settings and areas in East Midlands

• The CRP directory and the registration process

• The Competency Framework

• Developmental training opportunities

We are currently putting together the agenda for the day but in the meantime if you have any queries please contact crnempractitioners@nihr.ac.uk 

We have had some great promotion of our Clinical Research Practitioner movement with the following articles promoting CRPs both nationally and locally.

18th May 2021

Celebrating the Advancing Healthcare Awards 2021 with Clinical Research Practitioners. Thank you to all in your teams who have supported nominations for the sponsored Advancing Healthcare Award for Outstanding Achievement by a Clinical Research Practitioner.

Many congratulations to our three CRP Directory Community finalists, who are:

• Tracey Collishaw, Clinical Research Practitioner, Lincolnshire Partnership Foundation Trust;  

• Amy Clark, Senior Research Practitioner, Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust; and 

• Atiqa Begum Miah, Clinical Trials Practitioner, Barts Health NHS Trust

The list of all Advancing Healthcare Award finalists is available here and winners will be announced on Friday 21 May at the virtual Awards Ceremony, being held online 15:00-17:00. The Academy for Healthcare Science sponsored ‘Advancing Healthcare Award for Outstanding Achievement by a Clinical Research Practitioner’ will be presented by Anthea Mould, NIHR CRNCC Director for Organisational Development and Learning. All are welcome to join the celebration and can register to book a free place via this link.

I am sure you will join me in saying a huge well done to the finalists!

We are currently offering presentations to research teams in the East Midlands about the CRPs and the registration process if you would like to know more please contact Stephanie.Kings-Jones@nihr.ac.uk

11th March 2021

CRN East Midlands would like to congratulate Rachael Fothergill, Becky Rutter and Anne Chafer for achieving recognition by the Academy of Healthcare Science as Registered Clinical Research Practitioners.

Rachael Fothergill took part in the national pilot scheme last year working with the National Institute of Health Research and the Academy of Healthcare Science to develop a Registration Framework for CRPs and she is one of the first Practitioners in the country to achieve this accolade. In order to be accepted on to the Register, Rachael was required to provide substantial and detailed evidence against 16 CRP Standards of Proficiency, within 3 categories, demonstrating high levels of skill relating to Professional Accountability; Leadership and Working across Boundaries as well as a Record of her Practice Achievement.

The Register for Clinical Research Practitioners is accredited by a Quality Assurance Framework which is recognised by the NIHR as an effective way to recognise the skills of CRPs. The CRP Standards of Proficiency align with standards published for nurses, midwives and nursing associates, allied health professionals and healthcare science practitioners recognising the personal and professional skills that practitioners bring to the role of research practitioner. 

Right now it is free to join the directory, applicants need to have joined the CRP Directory before making an application be part of the Register If you have any questions at all please get in touch with Steph Kings-Jones - CRP Lead for East Midlands - stephanie.kings-jones@nihr.ac.uk

06 November 2020

Did you know there is a Research Delivery Staff Learning Community on NIHR Learn, well there is now a dedicated platform for CRPs too ! Here is the link, Engaging your Local NHS: Research Delivery Staff Learning Community  

As we have seen over the recent months, collaboration is key. Therefore the decision has been made to host the CRP community within the Research Delivery Staff Learning community to allow all research staff to connect with each other within one platform. We will be adding to our existing plethora of resources and there will be more opportunities to discuss issues with colleagues nationally.

Expert Blogs you might have missed

Janice Paterson, CRNCC Workforce Intelligence Manager, talked through the journey to the professional registration of the Clinical Research Practitioner in her blog  ‘A bright Future for Clinical Research Practitioners’.  Leigh Franks, a CRP from West Midlands, has followed Janice’s blog by giving an insight into a day in the life of a CRP.

In August, Eleanor Hoverd, a Research Nurse, and Ann Devrell, a Public Research Champion, discussed how they drive change together via cross communication networks to improve research awareness in their area.

You can find our full selection of Expert Blogs here!

Community in focus!

To ensure that the community continues to provide support and relevant information to help frontline research staff engage with their colleagues, there is also a focus group made up of a varied team of volunteers that are representative of the wider workforce. We hope that this group will help us to continuously improve the space by establishing what is missing and what works well. 

Help to spread the message during Covid-19 Pandemic

Clinical Research Practitioners (CRPs) are on the front line of the national response to the Covid-19 pandemic. The NIHR is leading a rapid response that is harnessing the research capabilities of our research infrastructure. Covid-19 studies are already open and CRPs are involved in supporting this vitally important work. If you have colleagues interested in joining the CRP register please send them this link

30 April 2020

On 22 April 2020, the Academy for Healthcare Science received final approval from the Professional Standards Authority for the Notification of Change to add Clinical Research Practitioners to the Academy Register, submitted in December 2019 .

The Authority decided that the changes would not negatively impact on the Academy’s compliance with the PSA Accreditation Standards for the Academy Register and so approved the change. The change was approved by a Moderator following a review of evidence gathered by the Accreditation team and supplied by the Academy.  No conditions or recommendations were issued and the decision is now published on the Professional Standards Authority website .  The document describing the detail of the assessment is accessible here. 

Accredited registration for CRPs has been warmly welcomed by Janet Monkman, CEO AHCS and Dr William van’t Hoff, CEO NIHR Clinical Research Network.  The CRP Directory website is being refreshed to reflect this important development. 

03 September 2019

Consultation on the following documents is now open on the CRP Directory website

• A process to implement accredited registration for Clinical Research Practitioners

• Draft Scope of Practice v0.4 

• Draft Standards of Proficiency v0.8

 We would like to invite you to participate in the consultation. 

Responses to the consultation will remain open until Friday 27th September 2019.

In addition the Clinical Research Network National Coordinating Centre have adapted the  CRP Survey and would like to invite local CRPs  to complete a survey. 

12 October 2018

The Clinical Research Practitioner Directory was launched at a national event in Leeds on 27 September 2018. 

Just over 250 early adopters were listed on the Directory, many from the East Midlands that had registered an interest. Whilst the free early adopter places are now closed, the Directory is now public and open to search and to join to become listed and involved in consultations on the project as it moves forward. 

You may access the Clinical Research Practitioner Directory from here. You can check if you have been registered by searching for your name. You can check who has been registered within your area by searching by your area.

Further information can be found in the Project Briefing Note which you may access from here. 

29 May 2018

Update from Ruth Wallbank Workforce Intelligence Officer CRN National Coordinating Centre

In each Connect we will update you on the progress of the Clinical Research Practitioner Project. This month’s edition also points you to some helpful resources for the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). It provides updates on Clinical Research Network (CRN) activity to improve research delivery, from digital innovation to working with the CQC. We also share with you a selection of learning opportunities, an outworking of our desire to put good learning in your hands. This desire is echoed by Susan Hamer, Director of Nursing, Learning and Organisation Development in the article we signpost at the end of this Connect.

05 January 2018

Happy New Year

Good News!

We are pleased to confirm that the Department of Health (DH) are supportive of the proposed approach to take forward developing the professional identity of Clinical Research Practitioners, advising that they are happy for the CRN to proceed with this project. The CRN Co-ordinating Centre are currently working up a summary of the proposal and we will share this with you all as soon as it is available.

As mentioned in the recent newsletter, a national meeting will take place on 1 March 2018 in Leeds. Each LCRN has been allocated a small number of places and we are looking for Practitioners across the East Midlands who would like to be involved in driving this forward and taking a local leadership role. There would be an expectation that you are able to contribute to this work and willing to share national messages by presenting at local events in the East Midlands. A draft agenda can be found here. You can register your interest in attending the event by contacting michele.eve@nihr.ac.uk. DH will be supporting the event on 1 March and also attending.

We are planning to hold another local event for Practitioners early to mid April, to share messages from the national event. A save the date mail will be sent out shortly and we hope to see many of you there.

26 October 2017

Various meetings have taken place with the Department of Health regarding the possibility of Practitioners become part of the Healthcare Scientist workforce. A proposal is being put forward to work with the Academy of Healthcare Scientists to put together a Directory in the first instance. This could then progress to a voluntary accredited register with the educational pathway to follow. The NIHR CRN Coordinating Centre are going to launch a monthly newsletter to keep Practitioners updated.

Fiona O'Neill has been leading on this nationally and unfortunately she left the CRN at the end of August however a new Head of Learning Development and Design in the Workforce Learning and Organisational Development team at the Coordinating Centre has been recently appointed to post. His name is John Castledine and I'm sure John will pick this up in due course. John is one of the speakers at our upcoming Research Forum on 29 November 2017.

We will, of course, continue to keep you all informed of any developments.