Emergency Department colleagues from the Royal Alexandra Children’s Hospital have won the NIHR (National Institute for Health and Care Research) Research Support Award.
The award is in recognition of the support they give to research studies and research delivery across the Trust.
A total of 14 individuals and teams were nominated and a judging panel chose the Royal Alexandra Children’s Hospital Emergency Department as the winner in the Acute Trust, non-Covid-19 research category.
Vivien Richmond, Senior Clinical Research Nurse for Paediatrics and Neonatology at University Hospitals Sussex NHS Foundation Trust, nominated the team.
She said: “Never have we seen the amount of research activity achieved by clinical staff in a busy children’s Emergency Department. This comes right across the board from the best leadership of the consultants with an excitement for research, the ward manager, staff nurses, junior doctors, nurse practitioners and health care support workers.
“Such a positive environment with a ‘can do’ attitude of all the clinical team have made our job easy as research nurses.
“Working together with them has been a dream, helping us to assess what we need to achieve, plan and streamline our processes within protocols, implement them and make things simple, evaluate what works for them or not and review changes are needed.
“They created a massive research board to aid their handovers, never forgetting about research on a daily basis. This has allowed them to celebrate their success with the studies we are running. The true gold standard of how research can really work within a busy clinical area! We can’t thank them enough for all their support over the years.”
The NIHR Clinical Research Network Kent, Surrey and Sussex Research Support Awards were established to recognise the ‘unsung heroes’ of research – NHS colleagues who give help and support to Research and Development departments and research delivery teams across the region.
Dr Joanne Zamani, Chief Operating Officer, NIHR Clinical Research Network Kent, Surrey and Sussex said: “We know our researchers do a fantastic job delivering research to advance patient care. We also know there are many unsung heroes.
“Many of these colleagues don’t even realise the impact of their contribution and these awards are an opportunity for Kent, Surrey and Sussex researchers to say ‘Thank you’ and make them aware how valued their work is. We hope that all the nominees will continue to be involved in research activities within their Trust.”
The National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) is the research partner of the NHS, public health and social care.