St George’s has finished fourth in a national league table for increasing the number of clinical research studies it supports.

In the last three years St George’s has grown its portfolio of research studies by 27%, according to new figures from the National Institute of Health Research (NIHR).

In 2018/19, the Trust had 274 ongoing studies, up 36 from 238 in 2017/18. In 2016/17, the Trust supported 215 studies.

The Trust also placed fourth for the number of research participants it recruited. In 2018/19, 13,102 participants took part in clinical studies – an increase of 107% on the previous year and the most ever during a 12 month period.

Last year St George’s emergency department recruited 1,014 patients – the most for their speciality anywhere in the country.

Dr Phil Moss, Consultant in Emergency Medicine at St George’s says research is vital to improving patient care. On Sunday 4 August, Phil is taking part in the Prudential Ride London-Surrey – a 100 mile cycle to raise money for St George’s Hospital Charity, which helps to fund research across the Trust.

Phil said: “Research is vital to developing new treatments, improving quality of care and optimising patient experience in the emergency department.”

“Our aim is to provide all patients with the opportunity to get involved in the research process. I’m taking on this challenge to help our researchers to deliver this goal and ensure more patients have access to cutting edge treatments.”

Dr Daniel Forton, Consultant Hepatologist and Associate Medical Director for Research at St George’s, said: “We’re committed to driving research and innovation to tackle some of the most pressing health problems facing our patients.”

“These results reflect the hard work by so many of our medical, nursing and research support staff to improve quality of care and patient experience.”

The new annual performance figures were published by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR), the health body responsible for supporting and facilitating clinical research studies across England.

For more information about Phil’s fundraising mission, please visit his JustGiving page: https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/phil-moss9.

Notes to editors

For more information from St George’s, please contact Sophia Alipour, Media Officer, via Sophia.Alipour@stgeorges.nhs.uk or 020 8725 0983.

For more information from NIHR, please contact Lewis Deakin, Communications Assistant via lewis.deakin@nihr.ac.uk

For further information on the NIHR, please visit their website: www.nihr.ac.uk/nihrleaguetable.

Anyone wishing to find out more about clinical research at St George’s, including patients, please visit: https://www.stgeorges.nhs.uk/education-and-research/research/joint-research-and-enterprise-office-jreo/