Publish date: 2 July 2020
National award for North East research collaborative
An innovative North East collaborative has won a national award for transforming the way endoscopy research is delivered in the UK.
The team based at Newcastle University and South Tyneside and Sunderland NHS Foundation in collaboration with the Northern Region Endoscopy Group (NREG) won the Research award at this year’s Royal College of Physicians’ (RCP) Excellence in Patient Care Awards.
Dr Tom Lee, consultant gastroenterologist at Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust and co-chair of the Northern Region Endoscopy Group, said: “We are absolutely delighted to have won this award, which recognises the truly collaborative approach to research working that we have developed.
“We have such a strong reputation in the North East for integrated working and I think this network is a great example of this. We are looking forward to taking this collaborative from strength to strength and growing together to achieve our goal of all patients attending for endoscopy having the opportunity to participate in research.
“Northumbria Healthcare has contributed to many of the endoscopy studies cited in this award entry and our research and development department has been central to the delivery of many of these.”
The collaboration has led to the delivery of the world’s largest interventional endoscopy trials. Over 12,000 patients have been recruited with research addressing multiple priorities, including pathology detection and recognition, patient experience of endoscopy and identifying risk factors for colorectal pathology.
The collaboration has now secured significant funding to establish a permanent formal infrastructure to deliver large scale endoscopy research nationwide – named COLO-SPEED (colorectal cancer screening, prevention, endoscopy and early diagnosis). This is currently delivering four studies, which will recruit 20,000 patients over the next five years.
Due to COVID-19 restrictions, the RCP were unable to hold a dedicated awards ceremony this year. Instead, the collaborative were announced the winners during a virtual ceremony.