Research

A series of clinics is taking place for families who would like their children screened for type 1 diabetes.

The clinics will be held in Ashford, Ramsgate, Dover, Deal and Herne Bay and have been organised by the Research Team at Kent Community Health NHS Foundation Trust (KCHFT), a recruiting site for the ELSA  research study

The study is being led by the University of Birmingham, to screen children aged three to 13, to find out their risk of developing type 1 diabetes in the future. The screening involves a simple finger stick blood test, which can be done at home or at one of our clinics.

They will be held:

• 9am to 2pm, Wednesday, 24 July, One You Shop, Park Mall Shopping Centre, Ashford
• 9am to 3pm, Thursday, 25 July and Thursday 23 August, Discovery Planet, 47 High Street, Ramsgate
• 9am to 4pm, Wednesday 31 July, at Dover Health Centre, Maison Dieu Road
• 9am to 4pm, Monday, 5 August, at Queen Victoria Memorial Hospital, Herne Bay
• 9am to 4pm, Monday, 12 August, at Deal Community Clinic, 9 Bowling Green Lane.

Around the UK, research studies are screening children for type 1 diabetes, to find children at risk of the condition before they become unwell. This gives the opportunity to test new treatments that could delay the start of type 1 diabetes.

Every family who takes part is helping to build a greater understanding of type 1 diabetes. The ELSA study is open to families living in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

If you would like to take part, please complete the ELSA eligibility form

To find out more, visit the ELSA website, email elsa@contacts.bham.ac.uk or phone: 0121 414 7814.

Further information is also available from the Research Team at KCHFT by emailing kchft.research@nhs.net or phoning 0300 0132078.

Our Research and Development Team have opened a study called MINDER, sponsored by Surrey and Borders Partnership NHS Foundation Trust. The study team are asking people to take part in a survey to gather views on the use of assistive technology and medical devices in the management of dementia. They would like to hear from anyone over the age of 18, regardless of experience or knowledge of dementia or assistive technologies.

The use of assistive technology and medical devices for dementia is increasing so they would like to hear from a wide variety of people to ensure future assistive technology projects are inclusive and easily accessible to all.

The survey results will help to:

• Understand if there are any extra steps needed to take when introducing a project or new technologies to people
• Understand how best to present new assistive technologies to people and if there is the need to employ different approaches for different people
• Roll out new technologies to a wider range of people with different experiences and perspectives.

Please select Kent Community Health NHS Foundation Trust in section six of the survey, between Frimley and Sussex Community.

• Complete the MINDER Health Management study survey.

The survey is open to staff, patients, friends and family, so please share far and wide.

You can also contact Charlie Marlow from the R&D team for further information: cmarlow@nhs.net.

The DBEAT study aims to recruit participants from schools, colleges and further education colleges who are aged 17-18 (school year 13). Schools will be provided with the study information and given time to consider taking part. The study team from the University of Cambridge, will contact interested schools with the recruitment packs. Schools will introduce the study to all year 13 students via email and through tutor discussions with students. Students who are interested can then sign up to the study.

Health visitors are qualified public health nurses who support families with children aged five under. The study team would like to hear from staff and parents about their experiences of health visiting, including not receiving health visiting, in order to understand how much and what type of health visiting might make a difference to families.

This study will help the government and professionals decide what health visiting services should look like.

The D-CYPHR programme is supporting health research for children 0-15 years of age. To join the study, interested young people will be required to answer a health and lifestyle questionnaire and donate a saliva sample. By studying thousands of DNA samples together with health information, scientists can begin to see the big picture of how our genes and environment influence physical and mental health.

The programme is led by the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) BioResource.

Can you help us? We’re taking part in the REDUCE-Carbon study which we thought might be of interest to you and your colleagues.

The study team are trying to understand whether prescribing choice for inhalers is influenced by knowledge of the carbon footprint. If you would like to take part, please click on the QR code within the attached poster to find out more. Alternatively, please follow the link below:

https://reduce.pttu.org.uk/

Once you have read the information, please click to confirm at the bottom of the link and click on “Next page” to start the survey. The link to the survey through the Word document (via the Participant Information Sheet), is not currently active.

Please share the study with your colleagues. It is open to all HCP’s, no matter what your knowledge of inhalers may be, prescriber and non-prescriber.”

If you have any questions, please contact Dan Wright or Charlie Marlow as leads for the study in KCHFT:

dan.wright2@nhs.net
cmarlow@nhs.net

This study is open to anyone who has ever been diagnosed with a melanoma of the skin, of the mucosal surfaces (e.g., nose, mouth, genitals) or under the nails. It is also open to anyone with a family history of melanoma. The primary aim of MyMelanoma is to recruit and maintain contact with a large group of melanoma patients to build the biggest melanoma data resource ever collected in the UK. We hope this resource will enable researchers to answer key questions about melanoma, for example, how different diet and lifestyle factors may affect the risk of cancer.

If you wish to take part or would like more information please visit www.mymelanomastudy.org

Reduce-Carbon- RandomisED control trial to Understand whether prescribing Choice for inhalErs is influenced by knowledge of the CARBON footprint

This study is for healthcare professionals to explore how inhaler choices are made and specifically whether carbon footprint information changes prescribing recommendations. If you are a healthcare professional, both prescribers and non-prescribers, and would like to take part, please email kchft.research@nhs.net for more information.

Renewal is a feasibility study which aims to evaluate the usability and effectiveness of the Second Nature adult weight management app for use in adolescents aged 13-17.

Study objectives:

• To determine the usability and acceptability of the Second Nature tier 2 weight management app for use in adolescents
• To determine the short-term effectiveness of the app for weight management and improved Quality of Life indicators in young people
• To assess any potential harms related to app usage

The study is being conducted by the Health Behaviours Team within the Primary Care Department at the University of Oxford.

Spirometry is a simple breathing test which does not change over time when asthma is controlled. Spirometry could be a very useful test to monitor asthma because it measures lung function, i.e. how the lungs are working. To do spirometry children take a big breath in and breathe out through a tube as hard as they can.

The SPIROMAC, a randomised controlled trial, will see if a breathing test called spirometry every three months can help prevent asthma attacks in children aged between 6-15 years, who have had an asthma attack in the last year.

The C-POS project, sponsored by King’s College London, aims to help test a questionnaire developed for children and young people who are unwell and their parents/carers. The questionnaire assesses the concerns of children and young people with a serious condition and those of their parents/carers. It is intended to ensure that health professionals ask about and address the things that matter to children and young people and their families.

A randomised control study running within the sexual health services of whether a new antiseptic treatment, dequalinium chloride, is as good at treating bacterial vaginosis (BV) symptoms (such as an unpleasant smell or discharge) as antibiotics. Participants will be randomised to either Dequalinium Chloride or Usual care treatment and will then evaluate the treatment using questionnaires at set time points.

A selection of patients admitted to community hospitals with Covid-19 are enrolled into this study and data is collected on their symptoms, treatment and outcomes. This data contributes to global efforts to provide information on those most at risk on Covid-19 as well as to help find common signs and symptoms of Covid-19 and to help establish treatments.