Growing a non-commercial research delivery portfolio

Dr Anna Turner, GP partner and PCN Research Lead in Devon, explores her route into delivering research with a small team.

Day-to-day research delivery 

My typical research day varies a lot, some days we do no research at all, others we do a significant amount. My research manager and I will sit down and look at the studies that have been emailed through the week and identify the ones that interest us, or that would be suitable for our patient population. Once we have a study in mind, we will put forward an Expression of Interest. We regularly speak to the NIHR regional research nurses, discussing what we are looking at doing, seeking their advice, and asking if they have capacity to assist on a project that we may not have the time to handle alone.  

I really enjoy the variety of working like this, it’s something that’s a bit different to the day job while also benefiting the patients. We can see they are interested in getting involved and are engaged in taking part in something important to them. It’s great to provide people with chronic conditions the opportunity to learn more about their condition and actively take part in research. 

Building a research team and growing a portfolio  

At the practice we have myself, as the GP Principal Investigator (PI), and a Research Manager who supports the admin side of studies, inviting patients to the practice, making sure things run smoothly and ensuring we are data compliant. We also collaborate with the Primary Care Network (PCN) who have a (PI) at each surgery in the network. The PI leads the clinical side of the studies such as checking that patients are eligible and performing clinical tasks throughout. We work really closely with the NIHR regional research nurses who flag potential studies that might be of interest and help us decide whether its suitable for our patient population. When we were ready to start delivering research, we started with the simpler things, such as posters that we put up and mail-outs or text-outs to patients. Once we did a few of them and got used to the process, we moved on to recruitment studies and Participant Recruitment Centre (PIC) studies. 

We also worked with the Royal College of General Practitioners on their Research and Surveillance Centre programme, over COVID which is something the patients enjoyed and found valuable. 

Recently we have started working within the PCN to look at studies that can benefit the whole PCN population, working with doctors and clinical leads at each practice to decide on a study might be beneficial for our whole PCN population. To date our delivery work has all been with academic partners.    

Key challenges 

I think the biggest challenge with research is time, as the normal day job is getting busier and harder to fit other things in between. That has been a bit of a challenge at the practice, but I have a really good team at the surgery that help keep things organised.  

Sometimes there can be quite tight time restraints and you've only got a few weeks to deliver something but it's about being a bit more flexible. The use of the regional research delivery nurses is really helpful because they can come in and help you run certain clinics if you need. 

Starting small 

One thing I would say to anyone looking to start research would be to start small. Once you've done one study, you're able to do another. The documentation can be difficult to start with, but if you have a dedicated person who can work on it once they've done it the first time, they'll be able to do it again. 

Some people worry about not having dedicated research rooms or research equipment, but we've managed to do what we're doing without those things. It is however important to have a good research manager who can organise the emails and paperwork. 

The NIHR ‘Good Clinical Practice’ training is really valuable, and encouraging other staff members to complete it can be beneficial so you have a wider team who you could call on to help if needed. However, we started with just the two of us and many years on it’s still just the two of us, with some staff members trained to help support with bits and pieces. For us, in terms of delivering non-commercial studies, it’s been the case that you don't necessarily need a bigger team to do more studies.  

For more resources on research delivery visit the

RCGP Research Engagement Hub