Venturing into primary care research delivery in Scotland

GP Partner, Dr Drummond Begg discusses why Penicuik Medical Practice based in Lothian started exploring research delivery and the opportunities it brings to general practice in Scotland.

Penicuik, where my practice is based is an average sized town south of Edinburgh. My research role here is currently helping to set up and grow an embedded research unit within the practice.  

I’m keen to see more research activity take place in primary care in Scotland and to give our patients the opportunity to be involved at research at a local level.  

We are very much at the start of our journey here at Penicuik  Medical Practice. Meetings with NHS Research Scotland Primary Care Network helped in the first instance, specifically their Lead Research Nurse. They helped us with our first study looking at long COVID, providing guidance through the many technical aspects of research delivery. 

We’re now looking to be a pathfinder practice who can share our learning as we go forward and take on different trials of a varied nature. 

Benefits & opportunities of research delivery in general practice 

In relation to our first study, the first thing is that patients really appreciated us taking an interest in their condition. Some patients with long COVID  felt  really neglected in terms of people reaching out and trying to find solutions. We found that by just offering them the chance to participate and enable new avenues to find ways to help was actually very positive from the feedback received from patient group that we engaged with.    

I think the other part is also about having a broader portfolio in your practice. We are a teaching and training practice. We enjoy our clinical care. Research delivery feels like another positive way as a medical professional to go about developing and looking to find new ways to help our patients.  

It also brings opportunities to develop our team. We are wide multidisciplinary team and a number of them could benefit from this to develop in terms of their career. It's not just a GP centric thing, there is real opportunity across the team, which I think it will be really healthy for growth within the practice. 

Challenges encountered & advice for other practices in Scotland 

I think one of the key challenges for research naïve practices is attracting sponsors in the first place. I guess it's natural for study sponsors to go to centres where they have a good working relationship. It's been quite challenging to actually get studies to get our teeth into, but persistence is key.  

Another key thing we have worked on is relationship building with secondary care and providing reassurance that we are looking to grow a research portfolio together. This is so our secondary care colleagues don't see us as a threat to their research portfolio in terms of taking work away from them. 

My advice for other Scotland based practices interested in pursuing research in the future, is very much watch this space. We're looking to share our learning and share the research activity, because the ambition for ourselves as well as the team that we're working with within the research network is to grow the learning from what we do here and then bring more practices on board.  

The team at NHS Scotland Research, Scotland Primary Care Network will be looking for practices to come on board over the next few years, so register your interest early on by contacting Andrew Deans (Andrew.Deans@nhs.scot) and Dr Ros Peters ( rosamund.peters@nhs.scot). 

We certainly hope to grow research in a primary care setting in Scotland. I think it's a sensible thing to do for our patients and indeed, to allow that broad portfolio that I think practices can thrive on. 

For more resources on research delivery, visit the

RCGP Research Engagement Hub