The Reproductive Health Research Teams across Wessex are committed to improving the care we give to women, birthing people and their families. Research changes lives, saves lives and improves outcomes. We may offer you the opportunity to get involved in clinical research studies within the maternity services.
Through research we can find out:
In hospital units with high research activity, the clinical outcomes are better.1,,2 Our research is approved and funded by the National Institute of Health Research (NIHR) which means it is ethically and scientifically sound and has the highest standards possible for patient safety.
Being involved in research is entirely voluntary. If you are approached about taking part in a study, you will be given written information and plenty of time to decide. A dedicated team of research midwives and nurses are available to answer any questions you may have and to ensure you understand what would be involved. Some studies, but not all, require extra visits to hospital but this will be discussed when you are deciding to take part. Whenever possible we will try to fit research around your normal care to make it as easy as possible for you to take part.
Please see below the current research studies open across the region. If you are interested in taking part in any of our research studies, we would be very happy to hear from you and would welcome any enquiries. Please see the contact list for your local research team.
Optimising the management of blood pressure following hypertensive pregnancy to reduce cardiovascular risk. The study aim is to develop and test the clinical and cost-effectiveness of an intervention to support self-management of antihypertensive medication following a hypertensive pregnancy. The intervention aims to improve long-term BP control and therefore reduce adverse cardiovascular outcomes and the associated costs to the NHS.
https://www.phctrials.ox.ac.uk/studies/snap-2
Available in Bournemouth and Poole
Around 10% of pregnant women and people in the UK have high blood pressure in pregnancy. If high blood pressure is not managed well, it can lead to serious problems for the woman and baby. The Giant PANDA study is looking at the two most commonly used medications (labetalol and nifedipine) to treat high blood pressure in pregnancy. Doctors in the NHS usually choose one or the other as their preferred treatment. We want to find out which is best for pregnant women and their baby (or babies).
https://bepartofresearch.nihr.ac.uk/trial-details/trial-detail?trialId=5367&location=&distance=
Available at: Southampton, Bournemouth and Poole, Portsmouth and Salisbury
The BABY PANDA study will look closely at the short-term changes in blood pressure in the hours after pregnant women take their blood pressure tablets. We will also measure levels of certain markers in the blood and urine. We want to use this information to work out why some medication may suit some women more than others.
https://bepartofresearch.nihr.ac.uk/trial-details/trial-detail?trialId=9820&location=&distance=
Available at: Bournemouth and Poole and coming soon to Dorchester
Most women with pre-eclampsia generally have good outcomes but some women can become very unwell, with complications affecting the liver, kidneys, and brain. There are also risks for the baby with some needing an early delivery, having problems with growth, and even dying before birth. The CaPE trial wants to look at whether taking dietary calcium supplementation throughout pregnancy lowers the risk of developing pre-eclampsia and its complications.
https://bepartofresearch.nihr.ac.uk/trial-details/trial-detail?trialId=7682&location=&distance=
Available at : Portsmouth, Southampton and coming soon to Bournemouth and Poole,
The TTTS registry aims to record all complicated monochorionic and dichorionic multiple pregnancies in the UK, their treatments, and outcomes. The registry also records natural history of uncomplicated monochorionic twins and triplets. The UK registry will provide a tool to improve clinical practice and therefore patient care. As well as monitoring the birth outcomes of TTTS, the database will also help monitor the survival rate and neurodevelopmental outcomes of the condition, which are currently unknown.
https://www.medscinet.com/ttts/default.aspx?lang=1
Available at: Bournemouth and Poole, Portsmouth and Southampton
The UK has approximately 11,000 twin pregnancies per year with a third of these sharing a placenta (monochorionic (MC) twins). MC twin pregnancy presents extra risks to both the mother and the babies, with some babies dying during pregnancy or shortly after birth. Often this is due to a complication called selective Fetal Growth Restriction (sFGR), where one twin is smaller than the other. sFGR affects one in seven MC twin pregnancies in the UK although we know less about pregnancies where this happens early (before 24 weeks). At present there is a lack of evidence to tell us the best way of managing sFGR in MC twin pregnancies. Currently, women and their partners are offered different management options depending on where they live and who they see. It is also clear that there are gaps in what we know about sFGR.
https://bepartofresearch.nihr.ac.uk/trial-details/trial-detail?trialId=6244&location=&distance=
Available at: Southampton and coming soon at Bournemouth and Poole
The MiNESS 20-28 study is looking at factors which might be linked to pregnancy losses between 20 and 28 weeks of pregnancy. In the UK, 1,600 babies a year die between 20 and 28 weeks of pregnancy, and it’s important to know if there are practical steps that could reduce this number. The MiNESS 20-28 study will check whether the same or different factors are linked to pregnancy loss between 20-28 weeks, with hospitals around the UK taking part. If you are being cared for in one of the participating Maternity Units you can ask your midwife about how you can take part in the study. They hope to talk to:
https://bepartofresearch.nihr.ac.uk/trial-details/trial-detail?trialId=25696&location=&distance=
Babies born in the Wessex region are eligible to participate in a pilot study that tests for Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA), a rare disease that typically occurs in 1 in 10,000 babies.
Early detection and treatment are critical in the management of SMA.
In the first week of life, all newborns are checked for treatable conditions as part of their standard newborn screening (NBS).
SMA is not currently screened for, this pilot can test babies for SMA using their standard NBS blood test. This means no extra blood samples will be needed.
To register your interest please click here: https://strongredcap.paed.ox.ac.uk/surveys/?s=JXHYCTJFL3XRFHYP
Would you like your baby to receive an extra, free test for spinal muscular atrophy (SMA)? Click Here
Available at Southampton, Bournemouth and Poole, Portsmouth, Dorchester and Salisbury
Heavy bleeding during and after birth is the most common problem when giving birth to a baby. We have created a new way of managing heavy bleeding during and after childbirth (called the OBS UK care bundle). This care bundle helps to recognise bleeding early and to standardise the treatment of heavy bleeding during childbirth. If the OBS UK care bundle is shown to make a big improvement to outcomes, then it may advise the new UK standard guidance for dealing with heavy bleeding during and after childbirth.
Local participating units: Southampton, Portsmouth, Salisbury
Nicotine replacement therapy (NRT) for preloading, lapse recovery and smoking reduction: impact on smoking in pregnancy: Open-label randomised controlled trial
https://bepartofresearch.nihr.ac.uk/trial-details/trial-detail?trialId=2241&location=&distance=
Available at Bournemouth and Poole
Emergency Cervical Cerclage to Prevent Miscarriage and Preterm Birth: a Randomized Controlled Trial
Sometimes the neck of the womb can start to open early and the bag of waters (amniotic sac containing amniotic fluid) around the baby can come through the neck of womb. If this happens too early in a pregnancy (before 28 weeks), there are a limited number of treatment options. Healthcare teams do not know which one is best for mother and baby. These include expectant management combined sometimes with antibiotics, progesterone, medicines to stop the womb contracting or emergency cervical cerclage.
https://bepartofresearch.nihr.ac.uk/trial-details/trial-detail?trialId=2045&location=&distance=
We want to understand how your genetic background and your environment affects the development of baby’s lungs and influences the possibility of future lung disease in early life, especially if you are allergic or asthmatic. This might happen because certain asthma and/or allergy markers in your blood get into the fluid that surrounds the baby in the womb (amniotic fluid), the baby’s blood or the umbilical cord and placenta. These markers might influence how the lungs of your baby develop and may influence the development of lung diseases such as asthma.
https://bepartofresearch.nihr.ac.uk/trial-details/trial-detail?trialId=21926&location=&distance=
Available at Southampton
Southampton Tel: 02381 206856 or 07770702433
Email: [email protected]
Poole: Tel 03000192932
Portsmouth [email protected]
Contact number 02392 286000 Ext 3606 or Bleep 1862
Salisbury [email protected]
Contact Number 01722 336262 extension 2103
Dorchester
