South West ambulance service a research trailblazer
More emergency care patients in the South West of England have the opportunity to take part in research studies out of hospital than ever before.
Six years ago South Western Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust (SWASFT)
was not conducting a single research study on the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) portfolio and had no research-active paramedics.
In 2014/15 SWASFT was the top patient recruiting ambulance trust in England and it is the first ambulance service to sponsor a Health Technology Assessment (HTA) funded study.
Sarah Black, Research and Audit Manager said: “Our research activity has grown significantly in recent years, which has given our patients greater opportunity to take part in clinical studies out of hospital than ever before. We are currently delivering six studies.
“We couldn’t have achieved this without the fantastic support of the NIHR Clinical Research Network in the South West to ensure we were research ready. And our achievements to date our testimony to the tenacity and flexibility of SWASFT staff who have seized research opportunities and embraced new ways of working and training to ensure we can run studies effectively. It has been a great team effort and everyone should be proud of what they have achieved to date.”
Research active staff at SWASFT have maintained an impressive record – having now won over the past three years every prize awarded by a specialist emergency medicine research forum.
This year SWASFT came away from the 999 EMS Research Forum prize giving event in Newcastle with the award for the highest quality research by research paramedic Kim Kirby and the best poster by Maria Robinson and the Airways 2 study research team.
Chair of the 999 EMS Research Forum Professor Helen Snooks said: “Our forum aims to encourage, promote and disseminate research and evidence-based policy and practice in 999 healthcare. Kim and Maria have continued South Western Ambulance Service Foundation Trust’s track record of excellent research in this area.”
Research paramedic Kim Kirby’s presentation of the Post ROSC OXYgenation study won the forum’s top prize of £1,000 which will go towards the funding of a trip in November when Kim presents the study at the Paramedics Australasia International Conference in Auckland, New Zealand.
Kim, who has been research active since 2012, said: “PROXY was a study designed to see if it is feasible to conduct a study in paramedic practice that investigates whether a lower level of oxygen administered to patients is superior to 100% oxygen in patients who have regained a heartbeat after having an out of hospital cardiac arrest. This was a really interesting and challenging study to be involved in and the success of this study is testament to the paramedics who were involved. I am really proud that PROXY won the award for the highest quality research and felt privileged to be able to present it to the forum conference.”
Research Facilitator Maria Robinson and her colleagues from the AIRWAYS-2 research study team received £100 for first place in the best poster award category. AIRWAYS-2 is funded by the National Institute for Health Research* and is co-ordinated by the Clinical Trials and Evaluation Unit in Bristol.
SWASFT is one of four ambulance services in England conducting the AIRWAYS-2 study which is comparing the clinical and cost effectiveness of two ways to manage the airway of patients who have had a cardiac arrest out of hospital.
Maria said: “AIRWAYS-2 is a large complex study with recruitment targets of 9,000 patients and 1,300 paramedics. The recruitment model for the study enables patients that are attended by a participating paramedic to be automatically enrolled. This means that patient recruitment is entirely dependent on having enough paramedics to take part.
In SWASFT there are almost 500 paramedics – approximately 25% of eligible staff – trained to take part in the study.
“These paramedics have enrolled 744 patients and in March 2016 over 3,000 patients have been enrolled across the four ambulance service sites in England. Achieving these recruitment levels has been a huge undertaking and the credit for this goes to all those involved in this study.”
Last year SWASFT scooped the 999 EMS Research Forum Best Use of Routine Data award and in 2014 the Trust won the forum’s award recognition for the research most likely to influence practice. This means over the last three years SWASFT has won every prize given by this prestigious research forum.
Ends Issued 18 April 2015
Note to editors:
For media enquiries contact:
MelodieMapstone, Communications Manager for South Western Ambulance ServiceNHS Foundation Trust on 01392 261506 or email
Wendy Shaw, Communications Lead for the NIHR Clinical Research Network: South West Peninsula on 01752 431944 or email
Background information
The AIRWAYS-2 study is funded by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Health Technology Assessment Programme (Project number 12/167/102).
The 999 EMS Research Forum is a UK based partnership bringing together academics and healthcare providers with a research interest in emergency care. It has been actively promoting emergency care research since its formation in 1997. Board members come from a range of professional specialties including consultants in A&E and anaesthetics, paramedics and academics.
The National Institute for Health Research (NIHR)is funded by the Department of Health to improve the health and wealth of the nation through research.
The NIHR is the research arm of the NHS. Since its establishment in April 2006, the NIHR has transformed research in the NHS. It has increased the volume of applied health research for the benefit of patients and the public, driven faster translation of basic science discoveries into tangible benefits for patients and the economy; and developed and supported the people who conduct and contribute to applied health research.
The NIHR plays a key role in the Government’s strategy for economic growth, attracting investment by the life-sciences industries through its world class infrastructure for health research.
Together, the NIHR people, programmes, centres of excellence and systems represent the most integrated health research system in the world. For more information visit the NIHR website:
The Clinical Research Network is part of the National Institute for Health Research. We are a co-ordinated national network that enables and embeds high quality research as core business across health and social care to make people and the NHS better. We do this by:
- Ensuring that as many people as possible across England have the opportunity to participate in research;
- Providing researchers with the practical support they need to make clinical research studies happen in the NHS;
- Ensuring the efficient and effective delivery of high quality clinical research across the health community;
- Attracting national and international clinical research investment; and
- Providing a coordinated response to national research priorities
The NIHR Clinical Research Network: South West Peninsula is hosted by Royal Devon and Exeter NHS Foundation Trust. The host is responsible for ensuring the effective delivery of research in the Trusts, primary care organisations and other qualified NHS providers throughout the South West Peninsula area.
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