Royal Cornwall Hospitals NHS Trust has published its research and development strategy, running until 2028 and built around three key objectives: to undertake a journey of improvement including utilisation of digital healthcare tools and services, to ensure safe, high quality care, and to support and value the workforce.
With regards to digital healthcare tools and services, the trust highlights three actions: to utilise the TriNetX system to support “more accurate” clinical trial feasibility estimations; to use recognised real-world data to support research grant applications; and to increase digital working and reduce paper-based working where possible. Measures of success include meeting the RTT for 80 percent of the study portfolio, improving data submission turnaround timelines, and contribute to the sustainability agenda by reducing paper and plastic use.
Another priority set out in the strategy is to develop a validated research unit with the aim of becoming an accredited site for research. Actions here include updating laboratory systems and improving the department’s data management, with support from wider digitisation of patient records.
The strategy can be found in full here.
Also from Cornwall
In July, HTN reported how University Hospitals Plymouth signed a contract with Kent-based SME, QuestPrehab, for a year-long trial of digital prehabilitation services for patients on the liver transplant list across Devon, Cornwall, and Somerset.
May saw us share how the Royal Cornwall Hospitals NHS Trust launched ‘The Silent Hospital Pilot Project’, seeking to reduce levels of noise on a postnatal ward by introducing technology capable of silencing patient call bells and driving the audible alerts to staff mobile phones instead.
In March we also shared how the trust partnered with Isla Health to offer dermatology services remotely to patients across community hospitals in Cornwall.
Research in the spotlight
In August HTN covered news of a £700,000 research grant to a study seeking to explore the potential of digital health interventions in improving recovery and quality of life for patients following elective surgery.
We highlighted how five new quantum research hubs are to be launched in the UK with an investment of £100 million from the UK government, tasked with developing quantum technology for industries including healthcare.
From NHS England and Prostate Cancer Research, we reported on a collaborative research initiative called Prostate Progress which will see the NHS Research Secure Data Environment linking pseudonymised clinical data with patient-reported outcomes, enabling researchers to access “rich, integrated datasets” about prostate cancer care and experiences.
And we covered the research strategy from another NHS organisation, Royal United Hospitals Bath NHS Foundation Trust, which highlights plans around the use of data to support the trust’s key strategic priorities.
