Skip to main content

Table 2 The Oxford Biomedical Research Centre (BRC) projects that Research theme/Working group leads indicated had potential impacts on patient care at Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (OUH), with an indication of whether that impact was perceived by senior clinicians at OUH

From: Does a biomedical research centre affect patient care in local hospitals?

BRC Research theme/Working group

Oxford BRC projects with potential impact on patient care

Potential impact on patient care at OUH

OUH senior clinician mentioned impact unprompted?a

OUH senior clinician confirmed impact after prompting?a

Biomedical Informatics and Technology

Gestational diabetes smartphone application

Processes and/or service organisation

YES

n.a.

New alerting score based on patients’ vital signs (CALMS-3 Study – Computer Alerting Monitoring System)

Processes and/or service organisation

NO

NO

Maintenance of database of samples and consent management for Oxford Biobank

Processes and/or service organisation

NO

YES

System for Electronic Notes Documentation (SEND) project (electronic track and trigger and patient alerting)

Processes and/or service organisation

YES

n.a.

Blood

Training and hiring staff and improving infrastructure for clinical programme to do stem cell transplants and run more clinical trials in this area

Treatments

NO

NO

Cancer

Multi-gene testing service with rapid (1 week) turnaround

Diagnostics, testing, screening

NO

YES

BRC-funded clinical research posts specialising in sarcoma, gynaecological cancers and melanoma

Staffing for specialist services

NO

NO

Cardiovascular

MRI diagnostic tools for patients with intermittent angina

Diagnostics, testing, screening

NO

YES

Clinical Informatics

Upgrade for cancer informatics in OUH (enabled by Genomic Medicine Centre (GMC) designation)

Diagnostics, testing, screening

NO

NO

Molecular diagnostics and genome sequencing services (enabled by GMC designation)

Diagnostics, testing, screening

NO

NO

Development of integrated logical record for each cancer patient (in progress)

Processes and/or service organisation

NO

YES

True colours technology for mental health patients across Oxfordshire to aid self-management

Processes and/or service organisation

NO

YES

Streamlining management of notes/records from multidisciplinary cancer meetings (in progress)

Processes and/or service organisation

NO

YES

Clinical decision support dialogue to make blood orders more efficient

Processes and/or service organisation

NO

NO

Dementia and Cerebrovascular Disease

New screening process for acute confusion in medical admissions

Diagnostics, testing, screening

NO

YES

Fast track carotid surgery

Treatments

NO

NO

Telemetric home blood pressure monitoring

Processes and/or service organisation

NO

NO

The first transient ischaemic attack (TIA) and minor stroke clinic in the United Kingdom

Processes and/or service organisation

YES

n.a.

Diabetes

Diagnostic programme to identify patients with a genetic basis for their diabetes

Diagnostics, testing, screening

NO

NO

Pancreatic islet extraction unit

Treatments

NO

NO

Pancreatic transplants

Treatments

NO

NO

Functional Neuroscience and Imaging

Imaging protocols (epilepsy)

Diagnostics, testing, screening

NO

NO

Functional neurosurgery team (part of the BRC) provides a clinical service, including pain deep brain stimulation

Treatments

NO

NO

Specialist clinic in epilepsy, Parkinson’s disease, motor neurone disease, supported by BRC-funded research fellows

Staffing for specialist services

NO

NO

Genomic Medicine

Targeted next generation sequencing

Diagnostics, testing, screening

NO

NO

Whole exome or whole genome sequencing

Diagnostics, testing, screening

NO

NO

Immunology and Inflammation

Non-invasive tests for liver disease

Diagnostics, testing, screening

YES

n.a.

Patient stratification for biologic therapies

Diagnostics, testing, screening

NO

YES

Tests to diagnose encephalitis (brain inflammation)

Diagnostics, testing, screening

NO

NO

Trials on treatment of inflammation in eczema

Treatments

NO

NO

Infection

Work linking care to outcomes with big data approaches

Processes and/or service organisation

NO

NO

Genomic testing to support infection monitoring (provided informally)

Processes and/or service organisation

NO

NO

Molecular Diagnostics

Oxford designated as GMC for Genomics England’s 100,000 Genomes Project

Diagnostics, testing, screening

YES

n.a.

Multi-gene testing for cancer patients

Diagnostics, testing, screening

NO

YES

Diagnostic tests for children with rare blood conditions

Diagnostics, testing, screening

NO

NO

Response prediction in leukaemia

Diagnostics, testing, screening

NO

YES

Prevention and Population Care

The first TIA and minor stroke clinic in the United Kingdom

Processes and/or service organisation

YES

n.a.

Surgical Innovation and Evaluation

Chemotherapy (device targeted therapy): liposomes developed to carry the treatment to the organ of interest

Treatments

NO

NO

Image-guided surgery using fluorescents

Treatments

YES

n.a.

Organ transplantation/reconditioning

Treatments

NO

NO

Restoring vision through an electronic implant

Treatments

YES

n.a.

Restoring vision through gene therapy

Treatments

YES

n.a.

Training and Education

No projects identified

   

Translational Physiology

No projects identified

Diagnostics, testing, screening

YES

n.a.

Vaccines

Respiratory syncytial virus, trialling a new vaccineb

Treatments (national)

YES

n.a.

Meningitis, looking at trials of schedules for baby vaccines, booster doses, meningitis B vaccine trialsb

Processes and/or service organisation (national)

YES

n.a.

Multiple Research themes/Working groups

Better infrastructure for clinical trials and other studies (e.g. better pharmacovigilance, biobanking)

Processes and/or service organisation

NO

YES

  1. NO, Either none of the clinicians interviewed recognised the project as described, or if it was recognised it was not confirmed as having an impact on patient care; YES, At least one clinician interviewed recognised the project and confirmed impacts from it; n.a., Not applicable
  2. aThe absence of a YES from both of the last two columns of the table should not be interpreted as evidence of an absence of clinical impact. The approach used to query impacts had limitations. Each interviewee was prompted with a list of 3–6 projects selected by the interviewers before the interview on the basis of the interviewee’s clinical area, so lack of recognition of projects could result from (1) unsuitable choice of prompts by the interviewers, (2) projects not being used as prompts, or (3) the projects may not have been described in terms familiar to the interviewees
  3. bProjects were not among those prompted, because their impact is national rather than specific to OUH, but they were both mentioned by clinicians unprompted
  4. In addition to the projects in the table that were mentioned unprompted, four projects were mentioned unprompted and confirmed to be Oxford BRC projects: digital monitoring of neonates in an intensive care unit, research on radiotherapy for rectal cancer, Tardox project to deliver treatment to specific tumour sites in liver, and metabolic imaging of brain tumours. A further eight projects were mentioned unprompted by the senior clinicians when asked about Oxford BRC projects that might have impacted patient care, but these had not been mentioned by the Oxford BRC RT/WG leads and were not identifiable from Oxford BRC documentation as being projects they had contributed significantly to