Recruitment and retention of participants in randomised controlled trials: a review of trials funded and published by the United Kingdom Health Technology Assessment Programme by Stephen J Walters, Daniel Hind, Richard M Jacques, Steven A Julious, Joanne Rothwell, Oscar Bortolami, Laura Flight, Inês Bonacho dos Anjos Henriques-Cadby, Christopher Knox, Ben Nadin, Michael Surtees

“…Many trials fail to reach their planned sample size within the envisaged trial timescale and trial funding envelope.Objectives To review the consent, recruitment and retention rates for single and multicentre randomised control trials funded and published by the UK's National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Health Technology Assessment (HTA) Programme.Data sources and study selection HTA reports of individually randomised single or multicentre RCTs published from the start of 2004 to the end of April 2016 were reviewed.Data extraction Information was extracted, relating to the trial characteristics, sample size, recruitment and retention by two independent reviewers.Main outcome measures Target sample size and whether it was achieved; recruitment rates (number of participants recruited per centre per month) and retention rates (randomised participants retained and assessed with valid primary outcome data).Results This review identified 151 individually RCTs from 787 NIHR HTA reports. …”
Get full text

What impact has the NIHR Academic Clinical Fellowship (ACF) scheme had on clinical academic careers in England over the last 10 years? A retrospective study by James Neilson, David Jones, Sally Clough, James Fenton, Helen Harris-Joseph, Leesa Rayton, Caroline Magee, Lisa Ann Cotterill

“…This study examines the impact of the ACF model, over its first 10 years, in developing clinical academic careers by tracking the progression of ACF trainees.Design Retrospective analysis of National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) ACF career progression. …”
Get full text

Adaptation and uptake evaluation of an SMS text message smoking cessation programme (MiQuit) for use in antenatal care by Felix Naughton, Stephen Sutton, Tim Coleman, Sue Cooper, Jo Leonardi-Bee, Katharine Bowker, Katarzyna Campbell, Melanie Sloan

Get full text