Dr Charlie Orton LRN Manager

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• Dr Charlie Orton - LRN Manager

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The story so far.

• Brief overview of MCRN
• Progress April 2006 September 2007
• Staffing/structure and roles
• PR and Launch
• Systems
• Portfolio
• Nurse deployment to trials
• Where we are now
• Building Relationships

The Local Research Network is part of the
National Institute for Health Research.
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MCRN England.

• Part of UKCRN
• 1 Co-ordinating centre hosted by University of
  Liverpool, housed in the Institute of Child
  Health at Alder Hey.
• Director Professor Ros Smyth
• Assistant Director Vanessa Poustie
• Leads Industry, TE, PPI, Pharmacy
• Clinical Studies Groups x 11
• 6 LRNs covering 50 of England (plus North
  Wales)

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6 LRNs.

• Some operate a centralised network, others are
  devolved
• Liverpool, Manchester and GOS are centralised
• Trent, Birmingham and South West are devolved
• Differ slightly in staffing structure
• Managers come from different backgrounds
• Getting to know each other, managers forum,
  sharing ideas

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Formulations Work-stream.

• 3 of the 6 LRNs have funding to work on
  formulations
• Funding to employ a formulations fellow
• They have divided the work up between them and
  meet regularly to assess progress
• They also support the other 3 LRNs with any
  formulation issues relating to adopted trials

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Our LRN Sites.
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Once the contract was signed.

• Begin recruitment of key staff
• PA Manager (both F/T)
• Managers work plan induction, recruitment
  strategy, job descriptions, accommodation,
  formalise working groups, asses budget
• HR, Estates, Finance, Consultants Chief Exec

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Recruitment and accommodation.

• Layered structure of research nurses (Band 7
  senior research nurse and Band 6 paediatric
  research nurse)
• Sept Nov 2.4WTE Band 7 appointed
• Tasked with recruiting Band 6s (Dec 06 May 07)
• Induction programme, core UKCRN and MCRN training
• HR, MCRN TE Lead, Finance

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Defining SRN role.

• Very difficult initially especially due to no
  trials, no other staff, embryonic
  relationships, no accommodation, no strategy

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Define something!

• Assign Trusts and lead areas of expertise to SRNs
• Helen RLC, LWH, P Care. PPI, PICU
• Sarah APH, CoC, Leighton, Macclesfield. Industry,
  communication dissemination
• Lucy Warrington, Whiston, Sthport Orms.
  Ethics, TE
• Sarah and Jayne (CYPRN Cymru) Bangor, Glan Clwyd,
  Wrexham
• Each other, Clinical Leads, Paed Consultants,
  MCRN counterparts

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Accommodation and setting up the offices.

• The value of good accommodation and equipment!
• Sept Dec 06
• Consider off site working, travel, lone working,
  integration into host trust infrastructure
• Office systems
• Dissemination of contact details
• Estates, IT, Finance, Supplies, Switchboard

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Dec 2006 March 2007.

• Always a pressure to recruit staff quickly and
  early but this caused some difficulties
• Recruitment of Band 6 PRNs (3 WTE)
• Took several recruitment rounds, very labour
  intensive difficult to know how many to recruit
• Aligned to an SRN to primarily support their work
• Induction programmes, integration into team,
  forming relationships
• HR, SRN-PRN, TE Lead, Clinical leads, Paed
  consultants, support services at host trust

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The LRN Team.
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Finding an identity/PR the launch.

• Worked with PR company to develop a vision
  statement, colours, logos branding how did we
  want to look?
• Delegate packs, business cards, LRN artwork
• Providing a professional image inspires people
  and instils confidence
• Launch event 14th February 2007

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Study Adoptions Committee.

• 1st met in November 2006, adopted the first set
  of trials

SAC meet
MCRN Ass Dir tabulates information on CTs and who
is involved
E-mails to LRN manager
LRN team assess trials, request info, make contact
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MCRN LRN Portfolio.

• The MCRN portfolio is different to the LRN
  portfolio
• Trials are adopted at very different stages in
  their lifecycle
• Ongoing, in set-up or completely new
• LRN team has to assess this status
• What support is to be provided and how best to
  deploy it
• Who will undertake specific tasks?

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LRN portfolio.

• SRN will take up the status of LRN lead
• Make contact with the CI and/or PI
• Gather trial related documents
• Set up LRN trial master file
• Educate the team about the trial (presentation)
• If multi-site, work with colleague SRNs to get
  trial set up in their sites
• If new sites are required the co-directors
  undertake this in conjunction with the SRN
  specific to each site
• Within LRN team, Paed consultants, RD managers

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LRN Portfolio.

• The SRNs work with their PRN to undertake their
  own local awareness raising exercise, carry out
  local approvals, establish PI needs and other
  support required e.g.. pharmacy
• Establish the best way to run the trial at each
  site
• Continually feedback to the LRN team
• LRN manager responsible for contracts and
  indemnity

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Provision of trial nurses.

• All MCRN adopted studies detail the involvement
  of a research nurse
• nursing allocation for each trial can range from
  0.2-1WTE and the duration of contract from 6
  months 8 years
• The LRN is committed to assisting in the supply
  of research nurses, by whatever means.
• There are several options available regarding the
  identification and recruitment
• This scenario is encountered for every trial and
  as such a system to establish the best way
  forward is needed.

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The Portfolio to date.

• Supporting 22 trials across 9 sites and 1 GP
  practice
• Actively recruiting to 3 trials
• LRN nurses are trial nurses for 3 trials
• Undertaken recruitment of all trial nurses on
  behalf of PIs
• Provided service support funding for some trials

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Where are we now?

• Fully staffed for England
• Need to embark on recruitment of nurses to
  support 3 Trusts in Wales
• Establishing support issues with our sites and
  working with them to feed these back to MCRN and
  assisting in helping to overcome these barriers
• Working with local RD managers to apply to CRN
  for funding
• Adopted a grading system for the trials
• Roles are as defined as they are going to be!

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What next?

• Deploying into Wales!
• Reviewing the LRN team and systems
• Changing budget items to incorporate additional
  substantive LRN posts e.g. CT administrator, data
  support officer.
• Addressing workload whilst increasing the number
  of trials we support
• Encouraging CIs to run trials at sites other
  than Alder Hey
• Continuing training and education, sharing of
  good practice

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• Thank you for listening