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Clinical research studies at Kettering General Hospital have skyrocketed with nearly 6,000 patients taking part over the last year.

The hospital’s 27-strong research team - working closely with the hospital’s clinical teams - have made amazing progress in increasing the number of patients who have agreed to support clinical trials.

Numbers have increased six-fold from 976 in 2019-2020 to 5,945 in 2024-2025.

Parizade Raymode, Senior Research Nurse, said: “The research team’s vision at Kettering General Hospital is to ensure that everyone who attends the hospital is given an opportunity to take part in research

“We have demonstrated that research activities can be embedded in the standard clinical care, without any interruptions or delay in patients' treatment.

“The response of our patients to taking part in research studies has been magnificent.

“I think people understand that for science and medical treatments to progress clinical trials need to be carried out in hospitals across the country to ensure that results are accurate and reproducible.

“This enables researchers to propose new or improve treatments for large number of medical conditions which many thousands of people suffer from.”

Each year East Midlands Regional Research Delivery Network East Midlands sets a recruitment target for each research site.

The target for Kettering General for 2024/25 was 2,328 participants into research studies and it was exceeded by 155%.

The studies the hospital has been involved in cross more than 15 specialties with the largest participant numbers in obstetrics and gynaecology (3511), emergency department (471) cancer (141), gastroenterology (1261), trauma and orthopaedics (208), cardiology (182), and ITU (112).

A huge range of important national research has been contributed to by patients involved in the studies.

  Some examples are:

• Blood-borne virus screening for HIV and hepatitis  – In the emergency department this involved routine testing of blood tests to help identify people who may be unaware they have health conditions which need treating. F inding newly diagnosed HIV and Hepatitis C patients also help improve the health of the wider community.
• Aspirin after hospitalisation with pneumonia to prevent cardiovascular events (ASPECT) –  Arandomised controlled trial aims to test whether aspirin reduces the risk of a heart attack or stroke in patients who are admitted to hospital with pneumonia.
• COLO-PREVENT study - A multi-centre study for patients in the bowel cancer screening programme with a burden of polyps that require further surveillance. One part of the study is looking at aspirin & metformin as prevention therapies, another part of the study uses resveratrol – a plant extract found in red wine grapes. The study is being run by the University of Leicester, is funded by Cancer Research UK, the chief investigator is Dr Ajay Verma - Consultant Gastroenterologist at KGH and Director of Research for University Hospitals of Northamptonshire.
• Cellulitis Optimal Antibiotic Treatment (COAT): –A trial assessing the effectiveness and safety of using antibiotics over five rather than seven days for lower leg cellulitis
• Genetics of susceptibility and mortality in critical care (GenOMICC)  – A trial looking at how our genes determine how susceptible we are to life-threatening infection.

The University Hospital of Northamptonshire’s Director of Research & Innovation, Dr Ajay Verma, said: “I am exceptionally proud of the achievements of the KGH research team, Parizade and her team have worked exceptionally hard to create a research culture that enables thousands of patients to be recruited to research studies over the last few years. 

“We look forward to continuing this important work in the future”

Kettering General Hospital’s Research Co-ordinator Linda Grant said: “Overall, it has been a successful year for Kettering Research and Development Department, ensuring that research studies are available to our patients. 

“All studies are overseen by national research ethics, and the Health Research Authority, as well as other regulatory bodies.

“Research provides a platform for patients to express their views on healthcare and, potentially provide opportunities for research treatments not yet available as part of standard care management; as well as increasing the knowledge-base.

“Many of our trials have recruited more patients than hoped for due to the hard work of local research teams to ensure patients are aware and fully informed of the research open to them.”