TY - JOUR
T1 - Impacts of COVID-19 on clinical research in the UK: a multi-method qualitative case study
AU - Wyatt, David
AU - Faulkner Gurstein, Rachel
AU - Cowan, Hannah
AU - Wolfe, Charles
N1 - Funding Information:
DW, RFG, HC and CADW are all funded by the National Institute for Health Research (http:// nihr.ac.uk/) Biomedical Research Centre at Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust and King's College London (Grant number IS-BRC-1215- 20006). The funder had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript. The views expressed are those of the authors and not necessarily those of the NHS, the NIHR or the Department of Health and Social Care.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 Wyatt et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Copyright:
Copyright 2021 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.
PY - 2021/8/31
Y1 - 2021/8/31
N2 - Background Clinical research has been central to the global response to COVID-19, and the United Kingdom (UK), with its research system embedded within the National Health Service (NHS), has been singled out globally for the scale and speed of its COVID-19 research response. This paper explores the impacts of COVID-19 on clinical research in an NHS Trust and how the embedded research system was adapted and repurposed to support the COVID-19 response.Methods and findings Using a multi-method qualitative case study of a research- intensive NHS Trust in London UK, we collected data through a questionnaire (n=170) and semi-structured interviews (n=24) with research staff working in four areas: research governance; research leadership; research delivery; and patient and public involvement. We also observed key NHS Trust research prioritisation meetings (40 hours) and PPI activity (4.5 hours) and analysed documents produced by the Trust and national organisation relating to COVID-19 research. Data were analysed for a descriptive account of the Trust’s COVID-19 research response and research staff’s experiences. Data were then analysed thematically. Our analysis identifies three core themes: centralisation; pace of work; and new (temporary) work practices. By centralising research prioritisation at both national and Trust levels, halting non- COVID-19 research and redeploying research staff, an increased pace in the setup and delivery of COVID-19-related research was possible. National and Trust-level responses also led to widescale changes in working practices by adapting protocols and developing local processes to maintain and deliver research. These were effective practical solutions borne out of necessity and point to how the research system was able to adapt to the requirements of the pandemic.Conclusion The Trust and national COVID-19 response entailed a rapid large-scale reorganisation of research staff, research infrastructures and research priorities. The Trust’s local processes that enabled them to enact national policy prioritising COVID- 19 research worked well, especially in managing finite resources, and also demonstrate the importance and adaptability of the research workforce. Such findings are useful as we consider how to adapt our healthcare delivery and research practices both at the national and global level for the future. However, as the pandemic continues, research leaders and policymakers must also take into account the short and long term impact of COVID-19 prioritisation on non-COVID-19 health research and the toll of the emergency response on research staff.
AB - Background Clinical research has been central to the global response to COVID-19, and the United Kingdom (UK), with its research system embedded within the National Health Service (NHS), has been singled out globally for the scale and speed of its COVID-19 research response. This paper explores the impacts of COVID-19 on clinical research in an NHS Trust and how the embedded research system was adapted and repurposed to support the COVID-19 response.Methods and findings Using a multi-method qualitative case study of a research- intensive NHS Trust in London UK, we collected data through a questionnaire (n=170) and semi-structured interviews (n=24) with research staff working in four areas: research governance; research leadership; research delivery; and patient and public involvement. We also observed key NHS Trust research prioritisation meetings (40 hours) and PPI activity (4.5 hours) and analysed documents produced by the Trust and national organisation relating to COVID-19 research. Data were analysed for a descriptive account of the Trust’s COVID-19 research response and research staff’s experiences. Data were then analysed thematically. Our analysis identifies three core themes: centralisation; pace of work; and new (temporary) work practices. By centralising research prioritisation at both national and Trust levels, halting non- COVID-19 research and redeploying research staff, an increased pace in the setup and delivery of COVID-19-related research was possible. National and Trust-level responses also led to widescale changes in working practices by adapting protocols and developing local processes to maintain and deliver research. These were effective practical solutions borne out of necessity and point to how the research system was able to adapt to the requirements of the pandemic.Conclusion The Trust and national COVID-19 response entailed a rapid large-scale reorganisation of research staff, research infrastructures and research priorities. The Trust’s local processes that enabled them to enact national policy prioritising COVID- 19 research worked well, especially in managing finite resources, and also demonstrate the importance and adaptability of the research workforce. Such findings are useful as we consider how to adapt our healthcare delivery and research practices both at the national and global level for the future. However, as the pandemic continues, research leaders and policymakers must also take into account the short and long term impact of COVID-19 prioritisation on non-COVID-19 health research and the toll of the emergency response on research staff.
KW - covid-19
KW - qualitative research
KW - research infrastructure
KW - research workforce
KW - Research and development
KW - research governance
KW - health service
KW - emergency planning
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85114097850&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0256871
DO - https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0256871
M3 - Article
SN - 1932-6203
VL - 16
JO - PLoS One
JF - PLoS One
IS - 8 August
M1 - e0256871
ER -