NHS App to match patients with clinical trials under 10-year health plan
Patients will be able to register for clinical trials via the NHS App under new Government plans to revive the UK’s struggling research sector and speed up access to new treatments.
The initiative, part of the forthcoming 10-year health plan, aims to significantly reduce trial set-up times, increase public participation in research, and boost the UK’s appeal as a destination for global life sciences investment.
According to the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC), trial recruitment and performance data will now be collected from all NHS trusts and organisations, with public league tables showing which are delivering. Future funding is expected to be linked to performance.
A new version of the NIHR Be Part of Research platform, integrated into the NHS App, will allow patients to browse and register for trials. Eventually, the system is expected to offer personalised push notifications for relevant studies based on patient data.
However, the plans may raise concerns in general practice, with further responsibilities for patient engagement and research participation potentially falling to primary care teams.
Ministers claim the reforms will help address a major drop in UK clinical trial activity in recent years. It currently takes an average of 250 days to set up a commercial trial in the NHS, compared to just 100 days in countries like Spain. The Government has set a target to reduce this to 150 days or fewer by March 2026.
To achieve this, a new national standardised contract will be introduced to avoid site-by-site agreements, and duplicative processes across regulatory bodies are set to be streamlined.
Health and social care secretary Wes Streeting said the UK should be at the forefront of the ‘emerging revolution in life sciences’, adding that the NHS App will be key to giving the public a greater role in research.
Professor Lucy Chappell, chief executive of the NIHR, said: ‘We know the benefits of embedding clinical research across the NHS and beyond. It leads to better care for patients, more opportunities for our workforce and provides a huge economic benefit for our health and care system. Integrated into the NHS App, the NIHR Be Part of Research service enables members of the public to be matched to vital trials, ensuring the best and latest treatments and care get to the NHS quicker.
‘Ensuring all sites are consistently meeting the 150-day or less set-up time will bring us to the starting line, but together we aim to go further, faster to ensure the UK is a global destination for clinical research to improve the health and wealth of the nation.’
Dr Andrew Garret, past President of the Royal Statistical Society and executive VP for scientific operations at ICON Clinical Research, said ‘efforts to speed up the process in the UK are most welcome and will make the UK a more attractive place to include in global clinical trials’.
However, he added: ‘It is important to be realistic in terms of what matching patients to clinical trials will mean in practice and to manage the public’s expectations here. Indeed, the investigator will always be the person to determine if a consenting patient is eligible and can be safely enrolled in a clinical trial. Some clinical trials enrol healthy volunteers, such as certain vaccine trials, and matching will be simpler here.’
The Government said it also plans to target underrepresented groups – including young people and people from ethnic minority backgrounds – through a new national research awareness campaign.
Kirsty Slack, head of policy, public affairs and campaigns at the Teenage Cancer Trust, said: ‘Young people in the UK with cancer find it extremely tough to access potentially life-saving clinical trials. The launch of this new service on the NHS app is a welcome innovation, giving young people the power to quickly search for opportunities through technology that’s integral to their daily lives.
‘However, there are more access barriers to overcome before young people with cancer move near to the “front of the queue” for clinical trials.’
The 10-year health plan is expected to be published in full in the coming weeks.
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