New report highlights essential role of research nurses and midwives across Wales

There are at least 265 research nurses and midwives across Wales, across all areas of healthcare, reveals a landmark new report by a group of NIHR 70@70 Senior Nurse & Midwife Research Leaders.

The report and results from the census, published today, incorporated 7,469 responses from research nurses and midwives across all four UK nations and the Republic of Ireland, reveals nurses and midwives are working at every level in healthcare from Bands 5 – 9 in the UK, and from staff nurse to Directors of Nursing or Midwifery in the Republic of Ireland.

Opportunities for career development

The report suggests there are opportunities to join the profession at every level, with continued potential for career progression. Clinical research nurses and midwives are a specialist workforce, with knowledge, skills and expertise in both clinical practice and research delivery.

Emma Williams, from Cwmfelinfach in Caerphilly, is the Haematology Trials Unit Manager at the University Hospital of Wales.

In 2021, she won the Supporting Improvement through Research Award at the Royal College of Nursing Wales’ Nurse of the Year Awards.

Since starting her role in 2015, Emma has worked towards increasing the number of haematology research studies, helping change the lives of people with a wide range of blood disorders. She worked collaboratively with Principal Investigators to set up monthly departmental meetings and created a strategic plan to make sure patients had every opportunity to take part in potentially life-saving trials.

“I really want to encourage nurses to lead research”

Emma said: “Nurses tend to have a close relationship with their patients, so it’s important a nurse is there, at the centre of that study, to guide them through.

“I really want to encourage nurses to lead research, they’re invaluable to a patient’s experience.”

The breadth and depth of research nurse and midwife involvement across the healthcare sector highlights their considerable expertise, and the high quality, safe and effective delivery of care for patients they provide.

A vital role in the pandemic

Research nurses and midwives have played a vital role throughout the COVID pandemic, supporting both COVID and non-COVID related studies. For example, during the pandemic they have supported 359 COVID-related clinical research studies and helped to recruit over 2.5 million participants across more than 5,000 sites in the UK alone. This includes recruitment to studies such as the RECOVERY trial, which discovered how important the steroid dexamethasone can be in treating the most severe COVID cases.

This discovery alone is estimated to have saved over a million lives across the world, while rapid delivery of covid vaccine studies required novel workforce models to ensure the rollout of the NHS Vaccine programme.

National Head of Research Delivery at Health and Care Research Wales, Jayne Goodwin said: “This report shines a light on the breadth of our research nursing and midwifery community in the UK. Clinical research which informs and revolutionises treatment and care is not possible without our research delivery nurses midwives and allied healthcare professionals.

“Research nurses and midwives are an essential part of our research workforce. When considering the achievements and crucial role of research delivery teams during the pandemic, this data really highlights how this relatively small proportion of the professional community has had and continues to make a huge contribution to the health and wellbeing of people in Wales.

“Our research nurses and midwives are highly skilled and specialist practitioners. The report points us to their roles and capacity for leadership and service development as well as advocates of patient choice and the highest quality care. We must now use this data to support the development and profile of our teams.”

The census was launched for the first time across the UK and Ireland in Autumn 2021 and research nurses and midwives in Australia and the United States are hoping to replicate the work.