King’s Health Partners is home to one of the UK’s busiest centres for conducting both NHS and commercial clinical trials – with around 600 trials running at any one time. The New Year brings a new name, a revised governance structure and fresh ambitions for managing clinical trials across our organisations.

The King’s Health Partners Clinical Trials Office (formerly the Joint Clinical Trials Office) is located on the 16^th floor of the Guy’s Hospital Tower.  It aims to support and advise investigators with the administrative and regulatory requirements that come with conducting clinical research. By providing a dedicated and specialised support function for King’s Health Partners, the Clinical Trials Office ensures quicker start-up times for trials and means that our investigators can focus on the science and medicine of clinical research and concentrate on managing those patients involved.

A formal review of the Clinical Trials Office was conducted in 2011 to ensure that it continues to meet the needs of the Principal Investigators and provides a value-for-money service in the changing economic environment.  The review, carried out by Robin McIver, Director Strategic Programmes & Organisational Development at King’s College London, recommended a revised governance model including new membership and responsibilities of the Board.

Jackie Powell, Director of the King’s Health Partners Clinical Trials Office said:

“The newly named ‘King’s Health Partners Clinical Trials Office’ more accurately reflects what we already offer: streamlined support for Principal Investigators across our organisations, and an attractive environment for the commercial market in which to conduct trials. I am confident that the revised arrangements, combined with leadership from a new Board will ensure that clinical trials at King’s Health Partners enter a new era, improving our service for staff and external partners.”

Frances O’Callaghan, Director of Performance and Delivery, King’s Health Partners will Chair the new Board, which now, in addition to its existing relationship with the partner organisations’ Boards, has a formal reporting line into the King’s Health Partners Research Committee (on behalf of the King’s Health Partners Board). The Board’s first meeting will take place on 31 January.

For more information about clinical trials at King’s Health Partners, go to www.jcto.co.uk.