We are a Research Ready Accredited Practice (Research Ready Certificate) who carry out clinical research. Clinical research is how we develop new treatments and knowledge for better health and care, building the evidence for new approaches that are safe and effective. We work in collaboration with Mid and South Essex University Hospitals Group.

To read more about clinical research click here.

Our reasearch is supported by the LEH Primary Care Team. The Freshwell Health Centre Management team are Research Campions, which means we provide additional support for research projects and for other practices who are interested in research. To read more about the LEH team, click here to visit their website

Read below for information about research studies our practice is currently participating in. In most cases, we will have screened your medical records and invited patients who we think are eligible.

If you believe you are eligible for a study and would like to take part, but have not previously been invited, please contact us by calling reception

APPLE-Tree stands for the active prevention in people at risk of dementia through lifestyle, behaviour change and technology to build resilience. The study team are trying out a new programme to support people with memory problems to make changes to their lifestyle and daily habits that may help prevent their memory problems worsening.

You can read further information in the Participant Information Sheet

This research is to find out whether people with chronic kidney disease
(CKD) should take regular low-dose aspirin to reduce the chance of having a first heart attack or stroke. CKD is very common and our kidney function often declines as we get older. Many people are not aware that they have reduced kidney function.

The study team believe that in the UK around 1 million people with CKD are already taking aspirin for this reason and around 3 million are not. The results of this study will tell us whether taking aspirin is better for patients.

You can read further information in the Participant Information Sheet

This trial to assess the clinical and cost effectiveness of electronic risk assessment tools (eRATs) for cancer compared to usual care for patients in general practice and to compare the effects of eRATs against usual care on cancer staging at time of diagnosis, cost to the NHS, patient experience of care and service delivery models.

Our practice is in the "usual care" arm so we do not use any electronic assessment tools when assessing the risk of cancer

Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (or ‘CBT’ for short) is an effective type of talking treatment that can help people who have depression. However, many people are unable to get one-to-one CBT. One of the reasons for this is a lack of CBT therapists; another is cost.

This study team are evaluating a new way of delivering Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) for depression. Integrated CBT combines input from a CBT therapist with online CBT resources. This new way of delivering CBT could make CBT more accessible and more widely available to people with depression in primary care.

You can read further information in the Participant Information Sheet

Most people in the UK who do Intermittent Catheterisation (IC) use catheters which are thrown away after each use (single-use). If catheters that can be cleaned and re-used (multi-use) were available this would give more choice. We call using multi-use catheters some of the time and single-use catheters at other times ‘mixed-use’. 

We know from IC users and health care experts that there are advantages and disadvantages to both multi-use and single-use catheters.

The purpose of the MultICath trial is to test the safety and acceptability of mixed-use with a cleaning method that we have developed with catheter users especially for this trial.

You can read further information in the Participant Information Sheet

This study aims to improve the health and well-being of people with Parkinson's by testing the effectiveness of the ‘Live Well with Parkinson’s’ Toolkit compared to usual care in a clinical trial. The toolkit is available online and in paper and aims to help increase the active involvement of people with Parkinson’s in the management of their care, including how to keep healthy and independent, where to access resources and how to manage their Parkinson’s.

This study will test if the toolkit works in this and also whether it is cost-effective to be used in the NHS.

You can read further information in the Participant Information Sheet

The PROFILE study is currently recruiting men aged 40-69 years who are at greater risk of prostate cancer, including men of African or African-Caribbean ancestry, men with genetic mutations known to increase their risk and men of European ancestry with a positive family history of prostate cancer.

You can read further information in the links below.

People with African or Afro-Caribbean ancestry

People with a family history

For more information, please contact the PROFILE Study Team:

Tel: 0208 722 4483

Email: Prostate.Research@rmh.nhs.uk

This study is aiming to prove that aminosalicylates (5ASA or mesalazine) have no role in the management of Crohn’s disease (CD) in remission. Clinical trials that tested aminosalicylates in have shown that they are similar to a dummy treatment (placebo) in maintaining remission in CD. The British Guidelines of Gastroenterology do NOT suggest using aminosalicylates in the treatment of Crohn’s disease.

Despite that, a lot of patients across the UK are still being prescribed these drugs. Stopping needless medication will improve patient safety and will allow the NHS to spend its budget in a better way to be able to help you more.

You can read further information in the Participant Information Sheet

Paramedics are increasingly being used alongside GPs to deal with GP shortages. Paramedics may manage minor illness, undertake home visits, and provide same day ‘urgent’ consultations, However, the types of condition and patients that paramedics are asked to see vary greatly. This study aims to measure the clinical and cost effectiveness of paramedics working in general practice, using an approach called ‘Realist Evaluation’ which allows us to look at what works best, for whom, why and how, in different circumstances.

Our practice is a "control practice" for this study as we do not employ any paramedics. If you have recently had an appointment with a member of our team you may be asked to take part. We are recruiting for this study from the 5th September for 28 days

You can read further information in the Participant Information Sheet