Specialists have established a ‘Greater Manchester Local Clinical Research Benign Urology sub group within the renal disorders specialty of the National Institute of Health Research Clinical Research Network: Greater Manchester – the first of its kind in the country.
High numbers of patients with urological cancer are recruited into important national uro-oncology trials, but this is not the case for urology patients with non-malignant urological conditions. The group aims to change this by raising awareness of urology research and improving the availability of accessible information.
By helping to develop capacity, capability and the effectiveness of testing new medicines or interventions they hope to speed up the process of translation into diagnosis, therapy and prognosis. The long-term goal of the group is to use their knowledge and capabilities to work towards developing new trials that will be adopted into the NIHR Renal Disorders Speciality Portfolio.
NIHR CRN:GM Urology Lead Mr Christopher Betts (pictured), who is also a Consultant Urological Surgeon at Salford Royal, said: “We want to encourage urology departments in the region to offer relevant national trials to their patients with non-malignant urological conditions. We hope to improve the uptake and delivery of the ‘benign’ urology trials in Greater Manchester.”