Background & Context

King’s College London and Guy’s & St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust truly are powerhouses of Translational and clinical research excellence.  The volume of research being undertaken across both organisations is significant.  To manage the volume and complexity of this research relies on robust research management systems to oversee the initiation and delivery of research from pre-award through to the study completion and official close-down.  Both organisations have well-established electronic systems in place that work well for each organisation respectively.  

When current research processes and procedures were being reviewed as part of a scoping exercise undertaken by the JRO, it became clear that many of the issues experienced across both organisations could be significantly improved if current research management systems could be shared, integrated or at least view-only access could be granted to the other organisation. 

Further discussions between the JRO and members of the translational and clinical research community highlighted issues that if resolved would significantly improve the research experience at both locations. A common example being access to finance systems that manage research grants held at one organisation but where the Principal Investigator is employed by the other.  At present, the researcher often relies on colleagues in the finance departments to run reports on current expenditure or financial status.      

Finally, It would be of benefit if the research community login to a system that provides them with an overview of the performance of their research from initiation of the research through to knowing where their study is up to in relation to participant recruitment. 

The Work Ahead

A Task and Finish Group from across KCL and GSTT has been established to explore the problems and identify solutions for testing and then subsequent implementation across the two organisations.  

Potential solutions include but are not limited to the following:

  • Reciprocal access to research management systems (Edge and Work Tribe) between King's College London (KCL) and Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust (GSTT) could improve communication and reduce delays.
  • Easier access to document sharing systems (Sharepoint) or research databases such as REDCAP
  • Integrating data from different systems (Edge, Work Tribe, etc) to streamline process and reduce duplication of data entry.
  • Easier access to financial information for Principal Investigators (PIs) to monitor grant spending and generate annual reports.
  • Proposal to develop a benchmarking dashboard to compare internal performance and with other centres across the country.