Written by Craig Johnson, Information and Portfolio Manager, Greater Manchester CLRN
I work across all areas of the network to provide up-to-date and accurate data on all aspects of clinical trials.
I’ve been at the CLRN for nearly two years now and during this time there has been a significant increase in the amount of information I have to provide both nationally and locally. During this time we’ve seen recruitment double, which has brought a subsequent increase in requests for reporting and uploading.
One of the main parts of my role that most people see is to produce clear, simple tables and graphs that pull together all the data we receive from UK CRN.
I also produce GM CLRN’s regular monthly performance information for our Trusts and Local Specialty Groups (LSGs). They’re very popular with our researchers and RM&G staff and have helped to encourage ‘healthy competition’ between our Trusts and LSGs and I believe they have contributed to us consistently remain as one of the top recruiting CLRNs. We work very closely with them and their researchers to ensure the timely uploading of recruitment data to the NIHR CRN Portfolio, which is in their best interests as well as ours.
Also, they aren’t shy when it comes to telling me if they think there is a mistake or they have a query with the data. But this is a good thing as it helps us to have more accurate records as well as proving our information reports are being read!
In the last 12 months I’ve been working closely with my RM&G colleagues to record CSP information for our regular CSP metrics. Again, we have had queries and questions about the data but we’re being open and honest about our performance and I think that it has helped our Trusts and researchers to improve their CSP data. It’s also helped to improve the links between portfolio, CSP and recruitment information reporting.
As more importance has been put on commercial activity, I’ve been working closely with our local industry team to develop how we keep track of commercial activity and activity at local GP partner sites. I’ve also been working with Jonathan Aitchison, my counterpart at Cumbria and Lancashire CLRN, on a database to track studies recruiting to time and target.
All this reporting helps to show just how well we are doing as a CLRN locally as well as contribute to the work all the Networks do nationally. It not only shows our business performance but also reflects the hard work of all our research teams in Greater Manchester and our shared goal of improving public health.
If you have any Information or Portfolio queries please get in touch via email or call me on: 0161 291 5889
