CRP Bulletin -April 2023

Magnolia trees

Welcome to our April edition, as usual we have lots to share with you, including an update on processing of Experienced Practitioner Gateway applications, the winner of the Advancing Healthcare Award - Clinical Research Practitioner Leadership, plus CPD opportunities. 

Plus following on from our recent conference special bulletin we now have a sneak peek of some of the speakers from the conference.  We will be able to share full recordings from the day with you soon. 

If you have any stories you would like to share in a future bulletin please contact us on workforceandprofessionscrn@nihr.ac.uk 

The Experienced Practitioner Gateway process and FAQs

Milly Brittain, Project Administrator, Academy for Healthcare Science

 

The Experienced Practitioner Gateway offers a process to widen access to the CRP Register for experienced practitioners without level 6 qualifications on a time-limited, exceptional access basis. This access route opened in January 2023, and is intended to operate for a limited period of 2 years only read more

 

Shortlisted applicants for the award

Advancing Healthcare Awards 

The Advancing Healthcare Awards ceremony took place on Friday 21st April, including the Clinical Research Practitioner Leadership award sponsored by the Academy for Healthcare Science.  The shortlist included three outstanding CRPs (Georgia Melia, Sarah Taylor and Caroline Winckley) with Sarah Taylor winning for her work at University College London Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust.  We're looking forward to hearing from Sarah next month as well as from Milly Brittain from AHCS who also attended the ceremony.  

Take a look at all the winners from the awards, including the CRP award on page 8.

Cleaning up Accredited Register and CRP Directory data 

Have you signed up to the CRP Directory or been accepted onto the CRP Accredited Register?  If you've got a moment it would be great if you could check your personal and employer details to make sure they are correct and up to date.  Help us get a more accurate national and regional picture of everyone on the Directory and Register.  If you need help with amending your details please contact crpadmin@ahcs.ac.uk  

Someone working on a tablet
Kirsty Rogers

Hearing from the Wessex CRP Engagement Lead - How can we better support CRPs to transition to registration? 

Kirsty Rogers, Education and Training Manager and CRP Engagement Lead, LCRN Wessex Core Team

Back in November, we held some ‘lunch and learn’ webinars to highlight parts of the CRP pathway. Subsequently, I have been honoured to be made a CRP Lead in CRN Wessex.  I am so excited to be able to contribute to the recognition of this talented pool of research staff!


Following the webinars we had a positive response and lots of engagement and enthusiasm for our webinar series which led to an increase of our local CRN Wessex staff signing up for the CRP directory. You can imagine my delight at this and I looked forward to hearing from people working through the process and got my thinking cap on how I could support them.  However, the influx of requests didn’t come! So it got me thinking, what am I doing wrong?


Who has active applications?!

The AHCS holds the data for the CRP directory and as the CRN we cannot see who has an active application.  This means if our local CRPs don’t tell me they have started their applications, I don’t know that they need support!  This is a problem as although I can search the directory for local members, I don’t know if they are actively seeking their registration.  


Due to the fact I sit in the CRN, I don’t know all the individuals who are working on their applications within the different organisations as there is less chance of those corridor conversions.  As the teams are also widely spread across the region, applicants also won’t know everyone who may be experiencing similar queries and questions to themselves! 


CRP Cuppa Drop-ins

Considering these two challenges has led me to begin the  set up of a weekly 45 min TEAMs spot in my calendar called ‘ CRP Cuppa Drop-ins’ to provide the local CRPs a time to come and ask questions about their applications, share reflections, or find out answers or advice from both me and their peers in the region.  With the wheels in motion for drop-ins to start in May, I am hoping we can build a supportive local community and share best practices!  


In addition to this, it will be an opportunity to see what might be preventing those on the directory from moving to full registration and start the conversation as to what is creating barriers.


Update your details!

One thing that has become evident is that we have people on the directory/register who do not have up-to-date contact information which means, of course, the AHCS can’t contact you!  This is not just relevant to staff within CRN Wessex, so if you are reading this, do take a moment to check that your contact details are correct on the CRP directory/registration.


Reminder of CRP Webinar resources

In order to make sure that the content is accessible to all, the CRN Wessex CRP Toolkit is accessible to all on NIHR Learn in case you would like to re-watch any of the content!


If you are in the CRN Wessex region and would like to join the new CRP Cuppa Drop-ins or you need any support, do please contact me kirsty.rogers@nihr.ac.uk or via train.crnwessex@nihr.ac.uk  

Future Focused Leadership Programme (FFLP)

We have re-opened our Future-Focused Leadership Programme (FFLP); Emerging Research Leaders stream for early career researchers. The 12-month programme aims to develop researchers’ capabilities and effectiveness as a leader by identifying and reflecting on the individual’s strengths and areas for development. 


Applicants must be:


Applications close 16 June 2023. Apply to FFLP. 

CRP Drop in sessions - help with completing your CRP register application

Need some help completing your Clinical Research Practitioner register application?  Are you supporting someone to complete their application? Come along to one of our drop in sessions - no need to book. 

Please come along with your questions or any reflections you may have! If you have any questions in the meantime, please don’t hesitate to get in touch with us - crpadmin@ahcs.ac.uk.  The following resources are all available on our website and may help you with completing your application:

And if you would like to connect with your local CRP Engagement Lead you can find their details on the CRP community site. 

Video conference call

The Future of Healthcare Research - podcast series 

In this podcast series, five research active clinicians explore the biggest research challenges facing healthcare. They were selected as Research Fellows by the NIHR Thames Valley and South Midlands Clinical Research Network. This series, which is made up of four episodes, is designed for healthcare staff and members of the public who are interested in clinical research. Our first episode is “The future of research: a modern workforce”, and discusses how to get more health professionals leading and performing research. You can find all episodes on the NIHR podcast channel and details of all podcast episodes are below. We hope this podcast series will encourage you to think about the future of research in your area and how you can embrace diversity and inclusion.

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