Research Activity at PMG

West of England Clinical Research Network

Portishead Medical Group is a member of the West of England Clinical Research Network of practices (https://www.nihr.ac.uk/nihr-in-your-area/west-of-england/), recruiting patients to studies approved by the NIHR (National Institute for Health Research), the research arm of the NHS .

We may write to you, or ask when you visit the surgery to take part in a study. All research goes through a rigorous appraisal and approval process before it gets anywhere near patients, so be assured that anything we ask you to take part in is safe. You’re not obliged to take part of course but only by supporting research will we improve the diagnosis, treatment of and outcomes of many of the problems we commonly see every day.

Royal College of GPs

Portishead Medical Group has also achieved the 'Research Ready' accreditation from the Royal College of GPs.

Clinical Practice Research Datalink (CPRD)

CPRD is a government organisation that provides anonymised patient data for research to improve patient and public health. You cannot be identified from the information sent to CPRD. Information in patient records is important for medical research to develop new treatments and test the safety of medicines. If you do not want to anonymised information from your patient record to be used in research you can opt out by speaking to one of our managers.

For more information about how your data is used please visit: www.cprd.com/public

Current Research Studies

We are currently supporting the following studies:

Name of study	What is it?
BARACK-D	Study to determine the effect of aldosterone receptor antagonism (spironolactone) on mortality and cardiovascular outcomes (onset or progression of cardiovascular disease) in patients with stage 3b.
TUDOR	Aim: To determine whether the detection of undiagnosed psoriatic arthritis (PsA) in people with psoriasis by an enhanced surveillance intervention compared to standard care improves physical function. Participants in the Enhanced Surveillance arm will be assessed in secondary care by a research rheumatologist (referred to as the assessing clinician throughout the protocol) at baseline, 12 months and 24 months.
STILTS2	A study examining the common and rare variants associated with thinness
TriMaster	Looking at third line oral therapies in patients who are already on Metformin and a sulphonylurea but still have poor glycaemic control
ANTLER	Investigating the use of citalopram, sertraline, fluoxetine and mirtazapine in preventing relapse in patients in primary care who are taking long-term maintenance antidepressants but now feel well enough to consider stopping medication.
RENEWED ONLINE	This study aims to evaluate an online intervention offering lifestyle and wellbeing support for cancer survivors, called Renewed
PRINCIPLE	Platform Randomised trial of INterventions against COVID-19 in older people.