About us
The NIHR is the nation's largest funder of health and care research and provides the people, facilities and technology that enable research to thrive.
The Clinical Research Network (CRN) West of England is hosted by the University Hospitals Bristol and Weston NHS Foundation Trust. As part of the CRN, the WE ReACH team work with health professionals and researchers to support the set up and delivery of NIHR adopted research studies across the region. We work within primary care, hospices, care homes, public health, mental health and other community services.
The CRN West of England WE ReACH team covers three CCGs:
Bath and North East Somerset, Swindon and Wiltshire
Bristol, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire
Gloucestershire
The WE ReACH team comprises a core team of staff who work on study set up, performance monitoring and study delivery at sites. We have 101 research-active sites in the West of England that are part of our Research Site Initiative (RSI) Scheme.
We have three GP Champions, each working as an experienced GP in a different region of the West of England. They are involved with managing the RSI scheme, supporting practices with guidance around research and providing advice around day to day queries, such as the feasibility of opening a study in primary care. We also work closely with the CRN West of England Mental Health Speciality Lead, based at University of Bristol.
We help to influence and improve health and social care in the future by increasing the opportunities available for patients to take part in clinical research and access new and innovative treatments.
We are passionate about the contribution that clinical research can make to public health and work collaboratively with healthcare providers to translate that passion into the effective delivery of studies. We have high levels of engagement from professionals in our region.