Clinical trial recruitment in the UK, followed through.
We follow every referral through to randomisation, and tell you which ones went nowhere and why. We count who we hold near your sites the same day, test your invitation with people who live with the condition, then refer the ones who pass your screening questions and say yes, with a best time to call. We stay with every patient we refer: did the site ring, did they get in, why did they leave. One line per person, and the site hears first about anyone not yet reached, with its own note beside them.
Patient recruitment in the UK: what you can ask for.
- Panel count. Free, the same working day: how many members with the condition we hold near your sites, by postcode district. Free panel count
- Site choice by postcode district. Where people with the condition live, from the first part of members' postcodes, and what would make taking part possible: travel, time off work, childcare.
- Invitation testing. Members who live with the condition review your invitation, visit plan and Be Part of Research pages before they go out, through patient involvement.
- Referrals. Members who pass your screening questions and say yes, with the yes recorded and a best time to call.
- Every patient followed to randomisation. One line per patient each week, with randomisation checked against your own record.
Referrals: pre-screened patients, sent to the site
We put your screening questions to members who live with the condition. Those who pass and say yes are referred to your site, with a best time to call.
Eligibility stays the site's call. Conditions are self-declared, with qualifying questions, so a referral means the member passed your screening questions. Whether they can take part is for the site to decide.
Two consents before any detail leaves us: a standing opt-in to hear about clinical trials, then a yes to one named clinical trial. The site's informed consent is a third step, and never ours.
Sponsors never learn who members are: only we, and the site a member says yes to, know their name.
We stay with every patient we refer
We check in with every member we refer. Anyone the site hasn't reached by day 7 goes back to the site that week, so the site hears first and can add its own note. If they're still not reached a week later, they go into the sponsor's report with the site's note beside them. It's a record of where each patient is, never a score for the site.
We follow each one from the first invitation to randomisation, across six steps: Referred, Contacted, Booked, Attended, Screened, Randomised. You get one line per patient each week: where they are across the six steps, where the patient says things stand, the site's note beside it, and why anyone stopped. Randomisation is checked against your own record.
What a week of the referral report looks like: one line per patient, six steps.
An invented example to show the format. We haven't made a referral yet, so we describe how it works, not what it has achieved.
Why go first? We haven't made a referral yet, so the first time, we carry the risk:
- Referral fees are capped.
- After the panel count, we commit to a number of referrals. If we fall short, we refund the set-up fee pro rata.
- Success fees apply only to patients who came from our members.
| Patient | Referred | Contacted | Booked | Attended | Screened | Randomised | Where the patient says things stand | The site's note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| R-014 | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | · | · | · | "The site rang on Tuesday. My screening visit is on the 14th." | Screening visit booked |
| R-017 | ✓ | · | · | · | · | · | "Nobody has been in touch yet." | Day 8: passed to the site this week |
| R-019 | ✓ | ✓ | · | · | · | · | "I've decided not to go ahead. The visits clash with my shifts." | Stopped before booking: visit times |
| R-022 | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | · | "I went to screening but I didn't qualify." | Did not meet criteria at screening |
| R-025 | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | "I've had my first visit." | Randomised |
Why patient recruitment should follow every referral through.
In a 2017 Tufts survey of 2,000 doctors and nurses, mainly in the US and Europe, nearly 30% of doctors and 45% of nurses said they never heard back after referring a patient to a clinical trial.
Tufts CSDD, in Applied Clinical Trials, January 2017.
Of 133 cancer patients a clinical trial finder service helped, 35% got a reply through the contact details listed on ClinicalTrials.gov, and 47% once other channels were tried.
DIA Global Forum, September 2024.
From 2013 to 2018, the areas of England with the most long-term illness had the fewest people taking part in research. To match, about 90,000 people would have had to be recruited in different areas.
NIHR Evidence, on Bower et al., September 2020.
Of NIHR-funded clinical trials reported from 2017 to 2020, nearly 4 in 10 didn't reach their original recruitment target, and 37% needed more time.
Jacques et al., BMJ Open, 2022.
We don't claim that following patients up raises enrolment: we haven't found controlled evidence that it does. It gives the team the facts, not a promised result.
How we do it.
- The record is the patient's own account at each check-in, with the site's note beside it, sent to the sponsor referral by referral.
- The site hears first about anyone not yet reached, a week before the sponsor does, and its own note goes beside them.
- The same members review the protocol and the invitation before the protocol is final.
- UK members, profiled to postcode district, with each condition broken down by age, sex, ethnicity and deprivation.
- Members are paid for their time and asked again over time, so what we know grows.
Alongside Be Part of Research
On Be Part of Research, research teams report how many volunteers were interested and how many took part. Our follow-through adds the patient's own account of where things stand, with the site's note beside it.
What members are paid
Members are paid £27.50 an hour, in line with NIHR's rate for public involvement, for answering our surveys. Never for joining a clinical trial, and the check-ins after a referral are unpaid.
Tell us about your clinical trial.
The condition, the people you need, where your UK sites are and when you're recruiting. We'll tell you how many people with the condition have joined us near your sites, and how they break down.