Research in Primary Care

Brighton & Hove Federation (B&HF) has a unique partnership with the Kent, Surrey and Sussex Community Research Network (CRN) to support research in primary care. The CRN aims to increase the number of research-active practices, widen opportunities for patient involvement, and help apply research outcomes in everyday care.

B&HF makes it easier for practices to participate by:

• providing clinical leadership
• centralising patient searching and contact
• acting as a single point of contact for contracting and finance.

This allows practices to engage in research with minimal effort.

Historically, the CRN focused on individual GP sites. By partnering with B&HF, they are moving to an ‘at scale’ model, which increases the number of patients eligible for research, provides consistent support across practices, and reduces the administrative burden of contracting and invoicing.

For practices, this means B&HF can run searches and manage research projects on their behalf, subject to agreement. This enables more practices to participate in research without increasing workload and supports practices in meeting CQC inspection requirements.