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The Government has announced that it is providing a £2 million investment each year for a new Primary Care Research Network (PCRN), which will help raise awareness among clinicians of clinical studies currently recruiting patients.1 Most featured studies will focus on the areas for which primary care has particular responsibility, including screening and early diagnosis, disease prevention and health promotion, and the clinical management of long-term conditions. Not only will the PCRN help with enrolment on clinical trials, but it should also allow patients easier access to innovative approaches, with many thousands more patients expected to be involved in clinical studies as a result. If the PCRN is successful, it is to be hoped that this will increase the amount of quality clinical evidence available, which can only be a good thing for evidence-based guidance. The network will be available from 1 April 2007.

Julia Morris, Editor
julia.morris@mgp.ltd.uk

References

1. www.ukcrn.org.ukG