Our Research

All our practices work with the NHS National Institute for Health Research to promote innovation in healthcare and allow our patients to take part in ethically approved research studies.

At a Glance

We’re advocates for more research in GP surgeries to better support our patients in the future.

Research has always been at the heart of NHS, mainly through hospitals. However, research will become standard practice within GP surgeries in the future. Research allows the NHS to continually improve treatments and discover the best ways to prevent, diagnose, and manage illness. Research also helps us to understand how best to focus NHS resources. All our practices work with the NHS National Institute for Health Research to promote research and offer our patients the opportunity to take part in ethically approved research studies.
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Transparency

Honesty and security.
The data we collect and share is important to us.

FARSITE

Our practices are currently signed up to FARSITE, which provides a safe, convenient, and effective way for GP practices to control the recruitment of their patients into clinical research, whilst allowing NHS-based researchers to run complex and powerful searches over population-level health record data anonymously.

RCGP RESEARCH AND SURVEILLANCE CENTRE (RSC)

We're one of 260 practices in England contributing pseudonymised data for national research and surveillance. This data enables continuous monitoring of infections and diseases in the community and is used in ethically approved research by Public Health England (PHE). Providing pseudonymised data does not affect patients, their care, or their privacy. However, if our patients no longer wish to allow their information to be used, they should speak to their practice manager.

THIS PRACTICE CONTRIBUTES TO THE CLINICAL PRACTICE RESEARCH DATALINK (CPRD)

This practice supports medical research by sending some information from patient records to the Clinical Practice Research Datalink (CPRD). CPRD is a government organisation that provides anonymised patient data for research to improve 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 your doctor.

IQVIA

We are currently involved in a research programme called the IQVIA Medical Research Extraction Scheme (MRES) for which we provide non-identified information from patients’ electronic medical records.

The data collected does NOT include any patient identifiable information such as names, NHS numbers, or dates of birth. The data is used by researchers outside our practices for scientifically approved research into such topics as: Epidemiology & Pharmacoepidemiology, Drug Safety & Risk Management, Public Health Research, Drug Utilisation Studies, Outcomes Research and Health Economics Research / Resource Utilisation. Additionally, the data may be used for treatment analysis to provide insights into patient, disease and prescribing profiles. If you would like to opt out of this scheme, please let your practice know, and no data from your records will be utilised for research. This will not affect your care in any way. For a list of published IQVIA research please go to: http://www.rwebibliography.com/

NHS CareData

Data we collect can be used to improve the quality of care and health services for all.

The role of the Health and Social Care Information Centre (HSCIC) is to ensure that high-quality information is used appropriately to improve patient care. NHS England has therefore commissioned a programme of work on behalf of the NHS, public health and social care services to address gaps in information. We aim to ensure that the best possible evidence is available to improve the quality of care for all. The NHS can use this information to get a complete picture of what is happening across health and social care and to plan services according to best practices. The new system will provide joined-up information about the care received from all the different parts of the health service, including hospitals and GP practices. Download ourNHS CareData information leaflet to find out more.
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Working with uMed

SSP Health is
working with uMed

SSP Health is passionate about healthcare advancement and strives for there to be a greater opportunity to participate in cutting-edge research that will make a lasting impact. We are proud to be working alongside uMed, a technology platform that aims to ensure that your participation will be easy and rewarding.

If your health records suggest that you may be eligible to participate, you will be contacted by either a text or email inviting you to find out more. You remain in control of your data and participation, and you can always opt out or chat to uMed’s dedicated study helpline should you have any questions on 020 3481 8905.

Current studies SSP Health is involved in are

ATTACK trial (Aspirin to target arterial events in CKD)

This is a large-scale academic study, being led by the University of Southampton, to see whether or not patients with chronic kidney disease should take aspirin daily to prevent a first heart attack or stroke. This is being run from Ashton Medical Centre.

PRINCIPLE study : looking at finding effective treatments for COVID-19 in the community.

Aiming to find treatments for COVID-19 for people in the community who are at higher risk of complications. We are aiming to find medicines that can help people get better quickly and stop them needing to go to hospital. We have been recruiting patients from 15 of our practices in Wigan/GM and Bolton.

ORION-4: (lowering cholesterol to prevent cardiovascular disease)

ORION-4 is a clinical trial testing whether a new medicine called inclisiran prevents heart attacks and strokes. This is running at Lower Ince Surgery with support from our research collaborators, Northwest e-Health (NWeH).

LIBerate-HR

This is being run at Lower Ince Surgery in collaboration with NWeH.

LIBerate-CVD

This is being run at Lower Ince Surgery in collaboration with NWeH.

Predict PD (Parkinson's Disease)

This study looks at people between 60-80 years old who do not have Parkinson’s disease and aims to identify early indicators in people who develop the disease. Patients take part in the study at home and will require internet access to complete the online tests.

Cares (COPD)

This study looks at people who have a range of chronic cardiorespiratory conditions. The study takes place at home, and participants will be asked to use an N-Tidal breathing device to take part.

Titania (COPD)

This study recruits patients with symptomatic COPD. Eligible participants will be invited to attend a trial site and will receive medication as part of the trial. Eligible participants will receive a reimbursement for participating in this trial.

Frontier 3 (Asthma)

This study recruits patients with uncontrolled, moderate to severe asthma. Eligible participants will be invited to attend a trial site and will receive medication as part of the trial. Eligible participants will receive a reimbursement for participating in this trial.

ADAMS (Multiple Sclerosis)

This study recruits patients with multiple sclerosis and aims to find links between different ethnicities and MS. Patients participate at home.

How can I opt-out?

It's your choice whether to be included in research or not. Opting out is easy; here's how.

Practices are involved in research in several ways, which may involve providing information from the practice database for a research organisation, or it may be a site where research activity is undertaken. The public can change their national data opt-out choice via the NHS website or by calling the NHS Digital Contact Centre on 0300 303 5678. We may also identify which patients are suitable for a research study at our other sites. For more information on this and NHS research, please see these helpful links...
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