SW anaesthesia research network shortlisted for national award
An anaesthesia research network, based across six hospital trusts in the south west of England, has been shortlisted in the Anaesthesia Team of the Year category at this year’s British Medical Journal (BMJ) Awards.
Set up four years ago, the South West Anaesthesia Research Matrix (SWARM) is a trainee-led audit and research collaborative between six NHS organisations in the region, including Plymouth Hospitals NHS Trust, Royal Devon and Exeter NHS Foundation Trust, Royal Cornwall Hospitals NHS Trust, Torbay and South Devon NHS Foundation Trust, Northern Devon Healthcare NHS Trust and Taunton and Somerset NHS Foundation Trust.
It is also supported by Plymouth University Peninsula Schools of Medicine and Dentistry (PUPSMD) and the NIHR Collaboration for Leadership in Applied Health Research and Care South West Peninsula (NIHR PenCLAHRC).
The power of the network is in scaling up projects to run concurrently at all the participating Trusts, thus bringing high-quality, high-impact, multi-centred research and audit to patients across the whole region. So far the network has run 10 of these collaborative projects, presenting and publishing their results widely.
Dr Gary Minto, Consultant Anaesthetist at Plymouth Hospitals NHS Trust, explains: “We are delighted to have been shortlisted for this award as it really showcases our message – that research is not a dry thing done at a lab bench. Systematically measuring the results of care delivered in theatre and afterwards should be part of the core business of being an anaesthetist.
“National recognition for SWARM also highlights the great contribution of hospital research nurses who work side by side with anaesthetic trainees in the network; and the generosity of hundreds of local patients who have agreed to participate in our studies.”
The worldwide, multi-centred LAS VEGAS study, run in 2013, first put SWARM on the map. This looked at mechanical ventilation practice during operations. SWARM recruited 40% of the UK`s total, whilst Derriford Hospital was the highest recruiting centre in the UK and the third largest recruiting centre in the world.
In 2016 SWARM will complete recruitment to CUPPA, a study of whether careful brushing of teeth decreases patients’ risk of getting pneumonia after major surgery. This trial is the first national grant funded multicentre project ever to be delivered by a UK anaesthetic trainee network.
SWARM are in partnership with NIHR PenCLAHRC, which funds a research fellow who draws on PenCLAHRC’s expertise in patient and public involvement and critical appraisal to design future projects.
The network will find out whether they have won later this week when the winners will be announced on Thursday 5 May at a ceremony at the Park Plaza Hotel, Westminster.
