Virus patients treated at St Richard’s Hospital are set to help with global research Page 18

A 49-year-old man from Yapton who spent weeks being treated for coronavirus is one of more than 300 West Sussex patients to take part in nationally-prioritised clinical trials.

Carl Carter spent almost a month receiving lifesaving Covid-19 treatment in intensive care at Petworth ward at St Richard’s Hospital.

He was among the patients offered the chance to contribute to important global research into the new virus.

Mr Carter said: “I’m absolutely blown away by the genuine care from all of the staff. The research team have been great and I was more than happy to take part.

“I hope it helps improve future treatments and gives a better quality of life to those who experience something such as Covid-19.”

More than 300 patients from Western Sussex Hospitals are taking part in the clinical trials, which aim to help improve care for people with the new disease.

Research specialists and clinicians are working with patients at St Richard’s Hospital in Chichester and Worthing Hospital.

Cate Bell, head of research, said: “There’s been tremendous support and engagement with Covid-19 research and amazing team working to ensure our patients have access to the new treatments being trialled.”

The trust is recruiting patients into three trials in particular that have been nationally prioritised for Covid-19 research.

The ISARIC trial aims to improve patient care and inform health policy.

The GENOMICC trial is investigating the role genes play in susceptibility to Covid-19 and the RECOVERY trial hopes to identify effective Covid-19 medications.

Dr Bell said: “RECOVERY is now the largest randomised clinical trial with over 10,000 recruits nationally. Western Sussex Hospitals recruited the first and second patient in the region and we have now recruited 44 patients in total.”

Carrie Ridley, lead research nurse, said: “We know that patients and the public want to be cared for in a research active organisation and it’s important to be able to offer patients the chance to participate in a clinical trial and contribute to the global data on Covid-19.”

In addition to national trials, Western Sussex Hospitals is also carrying out regional research into patient recovery from Covid-19.

Luke Hodgson, an ITU and respiratory consultant, is leading a multi-disciplinary team which has launched a multi-centre study to investigate how people recover from Covid-19 and how best to support them during the current socialdistancing guidelines.

Dr Hodgson said: “There are currently no other national trials exploring this aspect of care and little information about how people are impacted long term following Covid-19 related critical illness.

“We hope this will provide important information nationally.”