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Dartford and Gravesham NHS Trust was one of the top recruiting sites in July for the GONDOMAR Trial (GOals, Needs and outcome Determinants Of Multimodal therapy in periAnal cRohn’s fistula: A multicentre cohort study). Congratulations to Carmel Stuart and Jaquie Smith-Hedges! 

VITAL Pic.pngDartford and Gravesham NHS Trust opened as a site in April 2023, we have since recruited 26 willing and research active participants to the trial. The Trust has received a certificate of appreciation to thank us for our ongoing support and recruitment into the trial. VITAL is a multi-centre pragmatic randomised trial comparing the clinical and cost effectiveness of TIVA (total intravenous anaesthesia) and inhalational anaesthesia. To find out more information on the VITAL trial please click here. A huge thanks to Tracy Edmunds and Dr Eleni Syrrakou!

 

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The IBD BioResource has been set up by the UK IBD Genetics Consortium and the NIHR BioResource to collect biological samples and data from a cohort of up to 50,000 individuals with Crohn’s disease (CD) or ulcerative colitis (UC). Inflammatory Bowel disease, or IBD, is the collective term for these conditions. The IBD BioResource aims to support studies looking at how genes and environmental factors influence IBD and response to therapy. By gaining more information on the genes involved in CD and UC, by understanding the differences in their function and integrating information regarding environmental influences including the microbiota. Dartford and Gravesham NHS Trust recently recruited it’s 200th participant into the IBD BioResource trial! To find out more information on the IBD BioResource trail please click here. Fantastic work from Carmel Stuart and Dr Ben Warner!

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For the full summary please click here. 

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 ​​Dartford and Gravesham NHS Trust were one of the top 10 UK recruiting sites for the IP5-MATTER trial. Congratulations to Carmel Stuart and Professor Sanjeev Madaan! To find out more about this study, please click here. 

Phoenix.jpgTo find out more about the PHOENIX study click here. 

We are delighted that Sister Kathy Wood from Walnut Ward has become a SurfON Champion for the new national multi-centre randomised controlled trial (RCT) SurfON (Surfactant Or Not) that our Trust recently registered in. The trial is trying to determine how best to treat breathing problems in babies born two to six weeks early. In Kathy’s biography on the SurfON website she explains what it means to be a SurfON Champion.
https://www.npeu.ox.ac.uk/surfon/sites/surfon-champions

Kathy said: "Having a number of health issues myself, I have always been aware of the impact that research has had on current treatments. The ever-evolving knowledge and research that is linked to Neonatal Care has supported my personal awareness of the value of studies.

A recent change to a non-clinical role has allowed me the time to develop a research team as we are very Network interdependent and as a large SCBU we repatriate babies already enrolled on studies from our tertiary units. Supported by the Network, our Clinical Lead and DVH research team, we now have trained personnel across all bands. I actively looked for the right study that our team could undertake and SurfON is well suited to a unit of our size, easy to enrol, with understandable and positive possible outcomes.

Becoming a SurfON Champion allows me to support not only my own team but cross-working with Maternity to identify potential antenatal parents before the onset of labour to allow them to consider enrolling their baby at a less stressful time. I support staff that are using the study for the first time and promote awareness of inclusion criteria, even if the baby does not ultimately get randomized. The study comes along with initiation of the LISA technique for Surfactant administration so increases our scope of practice.

I have also encouraged working with our ward charity, Little Buds, as they purchased equipment for LISA administration so are feeding back to the supporters of our charity, that their contributions really do impact on care. We are also giving Little Buds teddies to all the babies on the study, when we award them their SurfON Certificate."

Thank you, Kathy, for all that you are doing in support of the SurfON trial!

You can learn more about the trial here.

 

DSC_1025.JPGDr Hemant Ambulkar and DGT's SurfON Trial team

RCT's are regarded as gold standard to determine the efficacy and safety of a treatment and we are pleased to announce that the study is being led by the Trust’s Principal Investigator, Consultant Neonatologist and Paediatrician, Dr Hemant Ambulkar.

Despite the assumption that infants born between 34-38 weeks’ gestation have respiratory maturity, approximately 30-40% of these infants are admitted to the neonatal unit with respiratory problems and many are diagnosed with Respiratory Distress Syndrome (RDS). Recent studies have shown that this group of infants experience more respiratory problems in childhood and impaired lung function. Long term respiratory morbidity is an ongoing burden for families as well as healthcare providers. Further evidence suggests these problems persist even during adolescence and adulthood. The current practice of conventional treatment results in delay leading to worsened severity, ventilator need and prolonged intensive care need and hospital stay.

The SurfON trial is comparing surfactant treatment (which is rarely used), against conventional treatment to ascertain which is the best method in treating these late preterm infants. This study not only looks at the length of hospital stay, respiratory problems and ventilator need but also looks at mother infant separation, effects on breast feeding, maternal length of hospitalisation, future hospital attendances and healthcare costs. 

Dr Hemant Ambulkar said: “I am extremely grateful to parents who have helped us in starting the journey of this trial in DVH by agreeing to contribute to this very high-quality research.

My team members consisting of Dr Bharath Gowda, Sister Kathy Woods, registrars, nurses from Walnut ward as well as the Research department, have been extremely enthusiastic and supportive of this study.”

The Trust hopes that this treatment will lead to better outcomes for the babies and their families.

To learn more about this study please click here. 

 

Darent Valley Hospital was in the top 15 recruiting sites to GenOMICC across the UK in October 2022! This brings your total number of patients recruited to an amazing 54 patients. Well done team! 

To learn more about this study click here.