LAUSR

Prior to COVID-19, Glasgow Clinical Research Facility (GCRF) was a busy clinical research unit with in excess of 100 multi-disciplinary team members undertaking approximately 400 studies in various stages of development – from set-up, open/recruiting, follow-up, closing down studies and archiving. When we heard that the difficult decision had been made by the research leadership level to put the majority of these studies on hold in order to maintain participant safety and support the start-up process for the fast approaching COVID-19 clinical research portfolio, we were worried. The initial questions we asked all centred around the safety of our current participants; how would they get their bloods reviewed? Would they still receive their trial drugs? What if they reported an adverse event (AE), serious adverse event (SAE) or suspected unexpected serious adverse reactions (SUSARS)? A contingency plan was put in place to allow for scheduled follow-ups for patients involved in clinical trials of investigational medicinal products (CTIMPs) and other studies involving devices. Where possible these were conducted remotely using a direct-to-patient service for delivery of equipment, devices and medicines following medical or nursing review. In a timeline that felt like overnight, we were reduced from running over 400 studies, to just a handful. It was no longer safe to bring participants into a hospital setting for routine research visits. As nurses, we were readying ourselves to join our colleagues in clinical areas to help with the massive influx of patients with COVID-19. Within days, however, new COVID-19 research protocols had been given approval to recruit and we were with our colleagues on the front line, but