The Research Design & Conduct Service recently gave a presentation to staff at the Cardiff School of Medicine to let people know about their services, advice and support, which they offer to health professionals who are in the process of developing research projects. The RDCS was funded in 2010 by the National Institute for Social Care and Health Research (NISCHR), part of the Welsh Assembly Government. Their partner organisations are Cardiff and Vale University HB, Cwm Taf HB, Aneurin Bevan HB and Powys Teaching HB. Learn more about the RDCS by viewing the presentation below and by visiting their website: http://medicine.cf.ac.uk/rdcs/

1. NIHR Primary Care Interven1ons call
• Broad defini1on of Primary Care
– “health care interven1ons or services delivered in primary care
se=ngs”.
• Pa1ent involvement is important
• Par1cularly interested in applica1ons that address:
– the management of long‐term condi1ons, the management of
mul1ple morbidity or
– interven1ons that prevent acute admission to hospital
– the effec1veness of exis1ng or new interven1ons
– the benefits of new approaches to the delivery of services
– mul1ple health related behaviours

2. 4 eligible funding streams
• Efficacy and Mechanism Evalua1on (EME)
• Health Services and Delivery Research
(HS&DR)
• Health Technology Assessment (HTA)
• Public Health Research (PHR)

3. Efficacy and Mechanism
Evalua1on (EME)
• must evaluate the efficacy of an interven1on
and may also include the evalua1on of
mechanisms.
• The main clinical study must account for the
majority of the costs
• may also include
– ini1al stages
– development of an interven1on
– pilot/feasibility studies

4. Health Services and Delivery
Research (HS&DR)
• research on different models of service
delivery and pa1ent experience
– new staff roles
– compara1ve models of care
– pa1ent‐centred care
– changes in health systems
– organisa1onal studies

5. Health Technology Assessment
(HTA)
• evalua1ons of the clinical and cost
effec1veness of interven1ons for the
– diagnosis
– management
– monitoring
– treatment or rehabilita1on of pa1ents

6. Public Health Research (PHR)
• non‐NHS public health interven1ons intended
to improve the health of the public and
reduce inequali1es in health.
• Seeking applica1ons looking at the role of
primary care prac11oners in health promo1on
or health protec1on work outside health
service se=ngs.

7. Funding
stream EME HS&DR HTA PHR
Pre‐clinical No No No No
Feasibility Yes Yes Yes Yes
Pilot Yes Yes Yes Yes
Phase I No Maybe No No
Phase II Yes Maybe No No
Phase III Yes Maybe Yes Yes
Phase IV No Maybe Yes Yes
Scoping Yes Yes Yes Yes
Diagnos1c Yes Maybe Yes No
Systema1c
review No Yes Yes Yes

8. Timings
• Call opening Thursday last week
• Ends 22nd March
• Funding decisions March 2014
• h^p://www.nihr.ac.uk/

9. Sta1s1cally significant?

10. Sta1s1cally significant

11. Sta1s1cally discernible
• more accurate
• s1ll understandable
• avoids confusion between clinical importance

12. Research Design & Conduct Service
(RDCS)
Dr Mark Kelly

13. RDCS
 Funded by NISCHR to
formalise exis1ng research
rela1onships with healthcare
professionals
 Covering HBs in
SE Wales
 Consultancy to healthcare
professionals for funding
applica1ons

14. RDCS advises on ...
• focusing ideas and refining the research
ques1on(s)
• building an appropriate research team
• involving pa1ents and carers
• choice and applica1on of research methodologies
for both qualita1ve and quan1ta1ve approaches
• iden1fying the resources required for a
successful project including iden1fying suitable
funding opportuni1es

15. The service aims to provide users with:
• advice and support on all aspects of funding
applica1ons
• links to experienced researchers for partner
organisa1ons
• Successful funding bids!

16. RDCS team
Mirella Longo Dr Kirsten McEwan
Health Economist Psychology/Statistics
Dr Claire O’ Neill
Qualitative research
Dr Mark Kelly
Statistics
Vicky Roberts
Research
administrator

17. How the service operates
NHS worker thinks of a They email their R&D They email
research idea office rdcs@cf.ac.uk
Consultant contacts NHS Logged in system ‐
researcher and provides Request passed onto request for support
RDCS consultant
support form returned
Funding applica1on
submi^ed (RDCS role Researcher provides
feedback on outcome
ends)

18. How the service operates
• help desks
• presenta1ons and a^end
conferences
• hos1ng events specifically linked
to funding calls
• newsle^er/website

19. Progress
• To date we have advised on 105 projects
• We have supported 15 Research for Public
and Pa1ent Benefit funding bids
• All supported studies got through the first
stage of RfPPB

20. • PATCH Art Therapy & Post‐natal • A feasibility study of an interven1on to
Depression improve the care of pa1ents with
• Topical vs oral gabapen1n for peripheral tuberous sclerosis in Wales
diabe1c neuropathy • Point‐of‐care tests to assist an1bio1c
• PLEAD prescribing decisions for diabe1c foot
• Phase 2 detox interven1on in prisoners on ulcer infec1ons
remand for alcohol abuse (INDUCE pilot study)
• EDDY ‐ Early Detec1on of type 1 Diabetes • A feasibility study to inform design of a
in Youth defini1ve pragma1c randomised
controlled trial to evaluate effec1veness
• RCT crossover trial of prostaglandin and cost‐effec1veness of different
F2alpha in thyroid eye disease methods of providing BRCA1/2 predic1ve
• OPTIC: Op1mising Consent Processes in test results.
Trials in Cri1cal Care • PROMiSE NHS: Pa1ent Reported Outcome
• Rehabilita1on programme to support ill Measures in Service Evalua1on: A pilot
military veterans achieve op1mal health study for radical change management in
and well‐being ‐ Phase 2 randomised the NHS
controlled trial • Func1onal Assessments for People with
• Final development and field tes1ng of Hun1ngton’s Disease
scripted consulta1ons for human • Uptake Promo1on for Long Ac1ng
papillomavirus (HPV) tested women Reversible Contracep1on: research to
evaluate a simple interven1on in primary
care.