A clinical trial is a research study which investigates whether a treatment is safe and effective. It can also show whether a treatment works better for certain health conditions or groups of people.
This treatment can be a new medication, surgery, vaccine and more, helping to treat patients quicker, but also understand health conditions better.
There are thousands of studies happening within our local area, and you can take part in research as:
a patient with a particular illness or health condition
a healthy volunteer (this help researchers understand how a treatment affects people without the condition, so results can be compared)
How to get involved
You can ask your doctor about what clinical trials you may be eligible for, and you also may be invited by them to take part in research. It is up to you whether you take part or not, it will not impact your care either way, and you can also leave the study at any point.
If you are a patient at King’s College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, you can also select ‘ok to contact’ in MyChart to be updated about opportunities to participate in research studies, select the areas of research that you would be interested in, or to be contacted as a ‘healthy volunteer’.
If you’re visiting our facilities, or a hospital clinic, you may see posters looking for research participants for a particular trial. If this is of interest, please get in touch with the research team, using the contact details given on the poster.
I think I was most probably most apprehensive about entering a clinical environment and how you might be treated in that space, but it really helped that the team created a really safe and welcoming environment. This made me feel valued as an individual rather than a patient number.
PeterParticipant
Everyone I met at King’s was very kind and understanding. In fact, this is more or less what I have been saying to people when recommending them to take part in studies!
