Research studies at Scarborough Hospital helping in battle against coronavirus

The studies cover everything from collecting DNA samples for research into finding the genes that make people more susceptible to Covid 19, to studying the records of patients for vital information that will help understand the disease.

Lydia Harris, Head of Research and Development at York Teaching Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, said: “Our staff are doing incredible work to support the Covid 19 research studies and have recruited over 100 patients so far.

“The RECOVERY trial is a drug trial where consented Covid 19 confirmed patients will be randomly allocated between several treatment arms, allowing us to compare different treatments to each other to help us identify the best way to treat Covid 19 patients.

“Our staff are also supporting the GENOMICC study which is of vital importance in helping us find the genes that cause susceptibility, which may help to prioritise treatments to respond to the global crisis.

“Another study is reviewing the records of patients who come in to the Emergency Department with respiratory illness to see if we can identify ways of predicting which patients with suspected respiratory infection are at risk of developing severe illness in the future.

“Our research nurses are collecting information daily from routine clinical records of Covid 19 patients for another research study to help better understand diseases processes and risk factors for severe illness so treatments can be developed. This involves collecting information on signs and symptoms, medications, and the results of any blood test and laboratory results that have been ordered in the hospital.

“We’re really proud to be contributing to so many different studies for Covid 19 and we expect to be supporting even more in the next few weeks.”

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