Delivering / Site Active Research Studies

Exploring the gloBAL pandemic on the health and wellbeing of ambulANCE service staff

The BALANCE study aims to understand the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the staff of the Welsh Ambulance Services University NHS Trust and how the staff have changed in response. An analysis on staff sickness will also be included to gauge how many staff this pandemic effected and what implications this may have had on the trust. This ambulance service has approximately 2,500 members of staff providing ambulance and related services, including the NHS 111 telephone service, to 3.1 million residents of Wales.

Out of Hospital Cardiac Arrest Outcomes

This National (UK) Collaborative Project hosted at the University of Warwick Clinical Trials Unit on behalf of the National Ambulance Service Medical Directors. The project has been funded by BHF and Resuscitation Council UK with the aims of establishing the epidemiology and outcome of Out of Hospital Cardiac Arrest (OHCA), exploring sources of variation in outcomes and pushing for quality improvements and research for OHCA patients in the UK.

Hip fractures are a very common injury for elderly people. About one in three patients who break their hip die within one year and many patients lose mobility and independence. Pain relief before the patient reaches hospital is often inadequate and causes side effects which may slow down recovery. We have recently completed a small study testing whether a local anaesthetic injection into the hip area called Fascia Iliaca Compartment Block (FICB) given by paramedics at the scene of injury is safe and acceptable. We met all the criteria that we set at the beginning of the study and concluded that it is feasible to undertake a full trial.

What is the aim?

We aim to find out whether the local anaesthetic injection reduces pain, is safe, and improves patient health outcomes, as well as how much it costs the National Health Service (NHS).

What does the study involve?

We will carry out a trial where paramedics give patients either the new treatment - local anaesthetic injection or usual care (often morphine). Patients will be allocated to one or other treatment by a random process (similar to tossing a coin) to ensure a fair comparison between treatments. We will provide training for the paramedics who take part in the trial, so that they can perform the local anaesthetic injection safely. When a trained paramedic attends a patient he or she assesses as having a hip fracture, (s)he will use a scratchcard to decide which treatment to give the patient. We will compare patients’ pain levels, other outcomes and costs between those allocated to the new local anaesthetic injection and those allocated to receive usual care. The other outcomes we will compare between the two groups during their initial care and up to four months following injury are: length of stay in hospital, deaths, quality of life, ability to walk, and satisfaction with care. We will also monitor safety by identifying any concerning health-related events in each group. We will work out the costs of NHS care in each group.

PRe-hospital biomarker and phONe call-based detection for ischaemic stroke thrombecTOmy

Why is PRONTO being done?

Thrombectomy improves the chance of recovery from large vessel occlusion strokes. HOWEVER, it usually must be done within 6 hours of symptoms.

Thrombectomy is only available in certain hospitals meaning unless they are in the catchment area they must be transferred from the assessment hospital leading to delays of definitive care.

The LVOne Test

The LVOne test is a fingerpick blood capillary test assessing D-Dimer levels and Glial fibrillary acidic protein (G-FAP). These are read both together after 10 minutes. D-Dimer requires the red control line and test line to be present with a score gradient. G-FAP requires the blue control and test line to present to be positive.