North Bristol NHS Trust team showcased for their innovative trial recruitment

The Women’s and Children’s Research Team at North Bristol NHS Trust, the UK site for the Bump2Baby and Me study, were recently the subject of a case study by The National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR). The case study explains the challenges faced by our teams during the pandemic and the innovative methods introduced to overcome these challenges.

The team in the UK were tasked with recruiting pregnant women to our randomised controlled trial before their 12 week scan during a period where face to face appointments were significantly reduced. Adjustments to the planned recruitment process were required by our team, not only in the UK but in our other trial sites in Ireland, Spain and Australia.

NIHR spoke to members of the research team in Bristol to find out more about their experiences of using telephoning as a means to recruit participants. Mary Alvarez, Senior Research Midwife, summarised the outcome.

“Telephone calling was discovered to be fair, woman centred, and gave women the time they needed to make decisions outside of the hospital environment. This method of communication has been used in subsequent studies.”

You can read the full case study here.

Pictured from left to right: Nichola Bale, Sarah Coates, Melissa Tout, Mary Alvarez and Anne Glover