 |
answer text |
<p>The Government has set out a vision for the Future of UK Clinical Research Delivery,
which aims to create a patient-centred, pro-innovation, and digitally enabled clinical
research environment. Key to achieving this vision is increasing participation in
research to ensure that the research we support is inclusive and representative of
the populations we serve.</p><p>The Department-funded National Institute for Health
and Care Research (NIHR) funds research and research infrastructure which supports
patients and the public to participate in high-quality research. For example, in financial
year 2022/23, the NIHR Clinical Research Network supported 41 pancreatic cancer studies
and recruited 1,004 participants to these studies.</p><p>In addition, the NIHR provides
an online service called Be Part of Research which promotes participation in health
and social care research by allowing users to search for relevant studies and register
their interest. This makes it easier for people to find and take part in health and
care research that is relevant to them.</p><p>When designing research studies, researchers
consider inclusion and exclusion criteria carefully to ensure they are not unnecessarily
excluding specific groups who would benefit from the outcome of their study. However,
we are aware that inclusion and exclusion criteria can disproportionally exclude individuals
from specific groups, for example older adults or pregnant women.</p><p>The Health
Research Authority (HRA) is developing guidance to improve practices in this area.
We are not aware that people with pancreatic cancer are routinely being excluded from
studies, however, we know that sometimes people are automatically excluded from taking
part, and this can be for good reasons. The guidance produced by the HRA will help
researchers to consider if these people and any other groups of people may be unnecessarily
excluded, and consider putting measures in place to address this.</p>
|
|
