Research Hero of the Month – August 2024

This month we would like to recognise Dr Guy Brookes for his ongoing support with the DIAMONDS RCT study!

We are now in the final push of recruitment for the DIAMONDS study, a Randomised Controlled Trial (RCT) evaluating the effectiveness of a diabetes self-management programme. The study has been open to recruitment since January 2021 and is due to close within the coming weeks. During these final few months of recruitment, it has been essential that we reach as many eligible service users as possible, giving them the opportunity to enrol on the study.

Dr Brookes

As a research team we always aim to maintain close links with clinical teams, in the case of DIAMONDS this has been particularly central during the data collection process, requiring that we promptly contact clinicians about risk and other clinical concerns so we can appropriately fulfil our duty of care to service users and link them to support if needed.

Since the study opened, Dr Brookes has provided valuable support; consenting for us to screen his caseload, making referrals, and responding to participant related queries. On several occasions Dr Brookes has further embedded research within his clinical appointments with service users, taking additional time to discuss the suitability of DIAMONDS for their needs and helping facilitate engagement with us in the research team. This has been incredibly beneficial in streamlining our recruitment process and most importantly, has ensured we can provide a high quality and cohesive research experience for service users on the trial.

In these final few months of recruitment Dr Brookes has continued to provide referrals into the DIAMONDS study and has been responsive to our correspondence, allowing us to promptly contact service users to make sure they do not miss out on the opportunity. We would therefore like to acknowledge Dr Brookes as a research hero and thank him for all his efforts in helping us successfully deliver DIAMONDS RCT. Dr Brookes said, in regards to his experience helping out with research referrals:

“It is really easy and takes minimal time!”

The DIAMONDS study is still open to recruitment for the next couple of weeks. If you work with someone who has type 2 diabetes and a serious mental illness please get in touch, we might be able to offer them the final opportunity of joining the study. Contact Lisa Hackney on 07980956795; lisa.hackney1@nhs.net

Page last updated: 9th Sep 2024 2:49pm