Videos & patient surveys provide reflections on research culture & research participation at the East and North Hertfordshire NHS Trust - updated 2018

At the East and North Hertfordshire NHS Trust we believe that developing a research culture can bring a host of benefits for patients, clinicians and the NHS. Our research strategy seeks to "enhance patient experience and outcomes through research opportunity and innovation for all patients and all staff".

You can watch interviews with four patients, who share their differing experiences of research at the Trust: Interview 1, Interview 2, Interview 3, Interview 4.

We also seek and act on feedback from those who participate in research via annual surveys. We had 100 responses to the 2016 survey and you can access the full report here. Our 2017 survey can be accessed here.

We are grateful to all research participants and especially to all those who completed the survey.

• All research participants said they strongly agreed or agreed with “I fully understood what I was consenting to”.
• 67% said they strongly agreed or agreed with “I know how to find out the results of the study I took part in”.
• 91% said yes to “Would you recommend taking part in research to other people” and only one said no.
• When asked “Overall, how would you rate your experience of taking part in research on a scale of 1 to 10 – with 1 being very poor and 10 excellent?” 69 responded with a score of 10 as excellent, 29 responded with a score of 9 and the remainder responded with 7 or more.

We received 57 comments. Of these 52 were positive, four related to problems with parking and one related to chemotherapy. We are seeking to improve parking as part of the overall development of facilities for patients and we have parking. We have secured also secured a charitable grant to help develop the place where patients receive chemotherapy.

Some of the comments from research participants are given below.

“I am happy to take part in the research so that the study can help future treatments. I am completely satisfied with the care and support provided to me by the staff.”

“Good relationship – interpersonal skills of research nurse excellent, and included a home visit to provide a replacement monitor on a Saturday (my need as research participant!).”

“The nurses were absolutely lovely, they listened and explained everything to me and also gave very good advice on caring for myself.”

“Research staff would answer questions, often finding out the answers and getting straight back to me. This was very important to me to know what is going on.”

“My research nurse has always been supportive, kind and caring and has always listened to my thoughts, doubts and concerns and has always put my mind at ease. She makes my two week treatments bearable.”

“All staff have been very supportive and proactive in making sure blood/ketone readings when high are dealt with and to check on general health.”

“The nurses have been fantastic, the care they show to me knows no bounds. They are angels!”

“I am so blessed to have been included on the trial. It has ensured that I was able to see my grandchildren.”