Barts Health tops chart for commercial trial recruitment
More patients from our hospitals are directly benefitting from new drugs and devices, whilst helping ensure they are safe and effective for other patients in the future, than in any other NHS trust in the country.
For the seventh year running we remained the UK’s top NHS recruiter to commercial drug trials, offering our patients the option of potentially life-saving treatment while our clinicians evaluate the wider benefits of new medical products or procedures.
We also retained our position as the country’s fourth-biggest recruiter to publicly-funded research, despite some big national research projects coming to a natural end.
In total over 20,000 of our patients took part in research in 2025/26, including the 538 participants in 165 commercial drug trials. Whatever the source of funding, patients treated in hospitals with an active research portfolio benefit from better treatment and care.
In a strong year for research performance, our annual report on research and development for 2025/26 noted how we monitor the diversity of patients recruited so they reflect the demographics of our wider communities. In addition:
- We were the highest performing NHS trust in safely setting up new trials, with 57% of studies meeting the national 90-day target
- We were second for the number of new studies opened by NHS organisations (255)
- We achieved 11 ‘firsts’ in the recruitment of study participants from either Europe or worldwide
- Our total research income increased to a record £90m, of which £20m came from commercial trials and the remainder from public funders like the National Institute for Health and Care Research
- Our researchers contributed to over 2,300 academic publications
- We launched new career opportunities for staff, with 11 employees enrolled onto a professional internship programme and 9 undertaking NIHR studentships
Dr Jenny Rivers, director of research & development, said “Research enables us to deliver outstanding patient care, not only by promoting clinical and academic excellence but also through improving patient experience.
“There is strong evidence that research-active healthcare organisations consistently deliver better outcomes for all their patients. They get earlier access to new treatments and technologies, are well-placed to identify and implement innovation, and foster a dynamic and vibrant culture of excellence in patient care.”
During the course of the year we strengthened our clinical research leadership, appointing Prof Kieran McCafferty as clinical director, Dr Imogen Skene as head of research nursing, and Profs Steffen Petersen and Tom Powles as co-directors of the NIHR Barts Biomedical Research Centre. Each hospital also now has its own clinical research lead.
