News & insights
Site news, operational notes, and the occasional honest write-up of something that did not go to plan. Written by the people who did the work.
Manchester opens as our ninth site, with a dedicated respiratory unit
Nine assessment rooms, four overnight beds and a full pulmonary function suite — body plethysmography, methacholine challenge, FeNO and induced sputum. The site was chosen for the density of severe asthma and COPD care in the region, and because two of our longest-serving coordinators wanted to move back north. It opened to participants on 6 July after a four-month fit-out.
More from the network
What our last MHRA inspection actually taught us
Three findings, none critical, and the six process changes we made in the eight weeks afterwards. Publishing this feels uncomfortable, which is roughly why we think it is worth doing.
Why our registry now looks more like the population it serves
Two years of open evenings, community briefings and multilingual materials — and the recruitment demographics that shifted as a result. Also the things we tried that did nothing at all.
Screen failure is not a recruitment problem
A 34% screen failure rate across a portfolio usually means the eligibility criteria are wrong, not that the site is under-performing. What we now push back on during protocol review.
We moved every site to a single eSource structure. It took fourteen months.
The migration nobody wanted to run, the three months we lost to a decision we got wrong early, and why monitoring visits are now roughly a third shorter.
Where our coordinators came from before research
Pharmacy counters, care homes, phlebotomy rooms and one former paramedic. A third of our coordinator workforce joined without a research background, and it has made us better.
Satellite sites in Leeds and Bristol now taking participants
Assessment-only footprints designed to cut travel time for participants in studies run out of Manchester and Milton Keynes. What a satellite can and cannot do.
Thinking about taking part in a study?
Volunteers learn more about their own condition, gain early access to investigational treatments, and move medicine forward for everyone who comes next. Every visit is supervised by a qualified investigator, and you can withdraw at any point.