West London Primary Care Consortium for Research and Innovation

The West London Primary Care Consortium for Research and Innovation (WLPCC) supports primary care research in West London. It is a consortium of the eight West London primary care trusts (PCTs), their local authorities and provider service partners.

The Consortium was originally set up as the West London Research Network (WeLReN). Its aim is to develop partnerships between universities, local authorities, pharmaceutical companies and local commissioning groups to help recruit patients into research projects and to build a culture of innovation throughout primary care. The latter includes facilitating quality assurance, evaluating service improvements, and improving the skills and capacity of primary care practitioners to inquire and collaborate in improving services.

The Consortium, which is based at NHS Brent, works closely with the NIHR Primary Care Research Network – Greater London (PCRN-GL), the London North West London Comprehensive Local Research Network (NWL CLRN), West London CLAHRC and West London NHS Trusts (acute and specialist). It is funded through the NWL CLRN and also receives ad hoc funds from research projects.

WLPCC provides the following services:

• research governance services for West London PCTs and primary care providers including 450 general practices;

• manages service support costs to support general practice engagement in research (time, equipment, training);

• liaises with researchers prior to grant applications, including pre-protocol and pilot work;

• works with research teams to target and facilitate practice recruitment and participation in studies;

• organises and facilitates training and quality assurance for studies;

• collaborates with others to enhance learning and opportunities for primary care practitioners;

• manages a ‘R&D Practice Scheme’ across the eight PCTs to enable quick access to research-friendly practices. Level 1 is willingness to participate. Level 3 is an accredited, frontline research practice. Level 2 is preparation for level 3. Level 3 practices relate to about 10 level 1 practices. There are currently 14 level 3 and 110 level 1 practices. We aim to increase this to 20 level 3 and 200 level 1;

• provides clinical research officers to support study teams and GP surgeries to recruit into projects.