The team at The Queen Elizabeth Hospital King’s Lynn (The QEH) were the first to get 200 participants on the POP-I (Perioperative Iron and EPO Intervention) clinical trial and is on track to recruit 10% of the entire trial’s 2,400-participant target.
The milestone is even more impressive after QEH joined the clinical trial later than other centres and has consistently recruited more participants than the 40 other hospitals taking part.
The POP-I trial, coordinated by the University of Nottingham and funded by the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR), investigates the effects of intravenous iron infusion, erythropoiesis stimulating agent (ESA) injection or normal care on older patients with hip fractures and anaemia.
The project aims to improve recovery outcomes in a particularly vulnerable patient group as anaemia after major emergency surgery in people over the age of 60 is common and is associated with increased mortality, longer length of hospital stay and poorer quality of life.
Dr Pradip Sarda, Consultant in Care of the Elderly and Principal Investigator for the trial at The QEH, said the success had led to the hospital getting a role in an upcoming sub study of POP-I.
“We are very happy to be involved in this trial, which could have a major impact on the way we treat older patients with hip fractures and anaemia. Before we started, we got the whole team engaged in the study, including pharmacy, ward staff, resident doctors and the research team so that we could give all suitable patients the option to take part.”
“It is very much a team effort and everyone buys into it. It does take a lot of time to explain the study to the patients and families as some of them are extremely frail, but we explain they are not disadvantaged if they take part in the study.”
The Nottingham Clinical Trials Unit team were so impressed with the recruitment success of The QEH, they sent a bespoke song to mark the achievement. Listen to 201 Still Strong.
Tom Dymond, Lead for Research and Innovation at The QEH added: “I would like to highlight and praise the exceptional efforts from Dr Sarda, his colleagues, the research team and staff on Elm Ward for their ongoing support and enthusiasm for embedding research into the care they deliver.”
“It is the first time we’ve received a personalised reggae song as a means to celebrate a research milestone!”
Ends. Notes to editors; For media enquiries only, please contact Communications Team, media.enquiries@qehkl.nhs.uk or 01553 613216. For all other enquiries, please contact QEH Switchboard on 01553 613613.
Click here to download the press release and photo.
Photo: Dr Pradip Sarda (centre right) and Tom Dymond (centre left).
QEH Media Hub 