Female medical professional in lab

Services to industry

The Health and Care Research Wales Research Delivery Hub provide a number of services to support the setup and progress of your commercial research study.

Our facilities and dedicated staff have experience of working with a range of stake holders, from biotechnology and diagnostics companies to large pharmaceutical companies. The commercial sponsors we work with have varying needs, some require support with a single centre study with specialist and complex procedures, and others require setup of multisite studies focused on recruiting large numbers of participants using our one site Wales delivery model which recruits patients to a One Wales target, with oversite from a lead Principal Investigator and delivery team, coupled with support from a central booking team and dedicated Research Manager.

Whatever your requirements our dedicated Research Delivery Hub, expert delivery staff and clinical Specialty Leads are on hand to provide expert advice and clinical input to enable to you to plan, setup and deliver your study successfully.

Our integrated Welsh NHS and social care system provides an excellent basis for research and innovation, and has the potential to play a significant role in creating better therapies and technologies. NHS Wales also provides expertise across the full range of clinical specialties, and Welsh universities are home to world-leading life science researchers.

These strengths, along with a government committed to improving the infrastructure to support health and social care related research and a thriving commercial sector, make Wales the ideal place to undertake research.

Early engagement

An information and advice service is available to companies looking to initiate or expand on their research and development activities in Wales. Early engagement and bespoke advice is provided by a dedicated Senior Industry Manager and dedicated Research Managers with expert feedback from clinical and operational leads as part of the process.

Wales-wide site identification

The Health and Care Research Wales Research Delivery Hub are part of the UK-wide site identification service hosted by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR). One conversation with the team will enable access to our nationwide resources. The team work to competitive turnaround times for site identification and feedback with urgent requests processed in 48 hours and standard requests processed in 10 days. Studies are triaged with feedback from dedicated Specialty Leads and expert research delivery staff to identify the most suitable sites in Wales for your study.

Wales wide feasibility service

Following site identification, our Research Delivery Hub provides a national feasibility service for more in-depth feasibility processes carried out by the Principal Investigator and local expert delivery staff. Realistic and comprehensive site level feasibility assessments are undertaken which consider recruitment to time and target, and local capabilities. This seamless service is centrally coordinated and spans community, care homes, primary and secondary care research sites.

Site selection, setup and delivery

Our Research Delivery Hub provides oversight of site selection, study setup and delivery with support from a dedicated Research Manager. Standard UK contracts and costing templates are in use and a central contract and finance team are on hand to support the setup process once for Wales, meaning only local adjustments are made to contracts and costings, for more information On the National Contract Value Review process in Wales please visit the costings and contracts page. We have a national oversight team attended by a mixture of central and local research delivery leads to support a consistent Wales-wide approach. The Research Delivery Hub provides performance management oversight with a dedicated Senior Industry Manager and Research Managers linking with regional heads of research delivery for issue escalation and resolution. Our oversight and support services span all stages of research from study setup and approvals to database lock.

To find out more about any of the above, contact the Research Delivery Hub at industry-research@wales.nhs.uk