South

Name of organisation	NHS Lothian
Population	978K
Annual outpatient visits	730K
R&D Director	Professor Alasdair Gray
Address	Queen’s Medical Research Institute (QMRI), Edinburgh BioQuarter, 47 Little France Crescent, EH16 4TJ
Telephone	0131 242 3330
Email	enquiries@accord.scot
Web	www.ACCORD.ed.ac.uk

This includes NHS Lothian and NHS Borders and is managed from the Academic and Clinical Central Office for Research & Development (ACCORD) office in NHS Lothian. The South-East node has responsibility for NRS contractual issues and training.

NHS Lothian R&D is part of ACCORD: a partnership between the University of Edinburgh, Scotland's premier research University and one of the top five in Europe for Biomedical Sciences, and NHS Lothian Health Board, with a strong international reputation for its clinical research activities. This partnership is underpinned by the first joint Research Framework Agreement in Scotland.

Mission: To promote clinical research excellence for the health and wealth of Lothian and Scotland.

In order to promote the health, economic and academic benefits of clinical research, ACCORD plays a leading role in the support and delivery of academic and commercial clinical research by streamlining clinical research governance systems and facilitating clinical trial startup. Providing a one-stop support resource for researchers from the inception of their clinical research study to close down, our aim is to ensure we can all meet research governance and regulatory requirements, fulfilling legal, ethical and scientific obligations, whilst nurturing and attracting world-class research. 

Particular strengths include:

Cardiovascular	Critical Care	Diabetology	Gastroenterology
Infection	Opthalmology	Respiratory Medicine	Rheumatology
Women’s Health	Regenerative medicine	Oncology	Telehealth

Services

Support to researchers and partners is provided in every activity during the lifetime of a clinical research project.

Set Up

• Regulatory submission – REC; MHRA; ARSAC
• Infrastructure support – CRF, Imaging, Safe Haven, Biorepository, CRF/Ecrf Design
• IMP
• Trial master file set up
• DSMC.

Data Management

• Recruitment reporting
• Data entry
• Data queries
• SAE resolution
• Database lock
• Statistical analyses.

Pre-award

• Risk assessment
• Sponsorship
• Feasibility
• Costing
• Protocol development
• Analytical plan.

Study Conduct

• Screening
• Recruitment tracking
• Randomisation
• Data collection
• Protocol amendment
• Trial monitoring
• IMP accountability
• Pharmacovigilance.

End of Trial

• Site close out
• End of trial
• Notification
• IMP reconciliation
• TMF audit
• Archiving
• Publication.

Key R&D Contacts

CRF	More info https://www.ed.ac.uk/clinical-research-facility Steve McSwiggan, Deputy Director Steve.McSwiggan@nhslothian.scot.nhs.uk
Biorepository	David Harrison david.harrison@nhslothian.scot.nhs.uk Frances Rae frances.rae@nhslothian.scot.nhs.uk
Pathology archive	Craig Marshall Craig.Marshall@nhslothian.scot.nhs.uk
Safe haven	More info http://www.ed.ac.uk/molecular-clinical-medicine/health-services-research-unit/ LRSH@nhslothian.scot.nhs.uk
Clinical trials pharmacy	Hazel Milligan Hazel.Milligan@nhslothian.scot.nhs.uk
Imaging	More info https://www.ed.ac.uk/clinical-sciences/edinburgh-imaging Duncan Martin duncan.martin@ed.ac.uk
Clinical Trials Unit	More info http://www.clinicaltrials.ed.ac.uk/ ECTU@ed.ac.uk
Patient and Public Involvement Adivsor	Carol Porteous carol.porteous@ed.ac.uk