BSRBR-RA Recruitment Workshop, January 2026

We find talking to our fantastic sites invaluable in learning what works and what challenges they face. At the recent workshop, we delved into successful recruitment and received an insight into how our sites screen and consent participants for the study.

What works really well?

Attending drug education clinics – the benefit is that the patients get to know the research staff and then when eligible for the study, the relationship has already been established.

Close liaison across departments – for example, research staff attending rheumatology clinics cements the relationship with the rheumatology staff who are often well placed to identify potential participants.

Postal consent – having this option works well if the patient is not being seen in clinic in the near future. Top tip though – telephone the patient first and follow up with another call after the forms have been posted out.

How did attending the session help?

Our sites were very open and honest with each other. This is what they had to say about the session:

It was useful ‘To listen to what worked and what hasn’t worked with recruitment with other sites… reminder to use the patient engagement material and outreach consent process.’

‘It was great that during the call were present recruiters of different backgrounds such as pharmacist, research nurses.’

‘I think it was a great sharing experience and look forward to the next one.’

 How can the study team help sites?

• We can provide stamps to help with outreach consent.
• We can provide posters to engage key departments and inform them that recruitment is still ongoing.
• We can attend relevant clinical research meetings to present information about BSRBR-RA to raise awareness with other departmental staff.
• We can provide patient facing materials to display in clinics to engage study participants.

What next?

We plan to run another recruitment session on Monday 13^th July 2026 at 2pm-3pm, so please email us if you are interested in joining us to network with colleagues at other BSRBR-RA sites. You are also welcome to attend our regular training sessions, where you may pick up some extra tips!

Contact us:

Email – biologics.register@manchester.ac.uk

Tel – 0161 275 1652

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