General Practices attitudes toward clinical research

“What are opinions of staff working within GP Practices, towards supporting and providing clinical research opportunities for their patient population?”

During the financial year 2021/22, the PANORAMIC study, utilised the primary care setting to provide vital research into oral antivirals for COVID-19, recruiting more than 26,000 participants. Alongside the relentless work conducted by practices in supporting vaccine research, the number of GPs recruiting to Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) portfolio studies in England remains consistently around 50% year on year despite the support offered by the NIHR.

This figure varies across regions, falling to 39% in Greater Manchester, and rising to 87% in Northwest London in 2021/22. These figures suggest a regional inequality in access to potentially life-changing research from primary care providers.

Various factors must be considered as contributing to these figures, such as funding, regional deprivation, and the workload and workforce crisis, however, very little literature exists regarding GPs attitudes towards research that is backed by data.

To address this, a series of online and face-to-face data collection activities will take place, in Greater Manchester, and later from a sample of the GPs across all NIHR regions. The aim is to identify the barriers and challenges facing practices that reduce their likelihood of engaging in clinical research, as well as potential incentives and motivators that would support or encourage them to take part.

Knowledge gained from these activities will help inform researchers, research organisations, and the NIHR, to provide support and opportunities for GPs across England, ensuring that more of the population has access to clinical research opportunities through their general practitioners.