Browsing and signing up to clinical trials will become a new feature on the NHS App as part of the Government’s healthcare plan.
Eventually the app will automatically match patients with studies based on their own interests and health data – and send push notifications with relevant new trials, the Department for Health and Social Care (DHSC) said.
The NIHR’s (National Institute for Health and Care Research) Be Part of Research service on the app is part of the Government’s 10-year health plan.
It takes around 100 days to set up a trial in Spain, but approximately 250 days in the NHS, DHSC said.
The department projected the plan will see commercial trial set-up times fall to 150 by March 2026, which it described as “the most ambitious reduction in trial set-up times in British history”.
Health Secretary Wes Streeting said: “The 10-year plan for health will marry the genius of our country’s leading scientific minds, with the care and compassion of our health service, to put NHS patients at the front of the queue for new cutting-edge treatments.
“The NHS App will become the digital front door to the NHS, and enable all of us as citizens to play our part in developing the medicines of the future.”
He added: “The British people showed they were willing to be part of finding the vaccine for Covid, so why not do it again to cure cancer and dementia?
“By slashing through red tape and making it easier for patients to take part, reforms in our 10-year plan will grow our life sciences sector, generate news funds for the NHS to reinvest in frontline care, and benefit patients through better medicines.”
The number of trials sponsored by commercial and non-commercial entities at specific NHS trusts, as well as organisations including universities, will be made public.
This will reveal which are “performing well and which are falling behind”, DHSC added.
Funding for NHS trusts will be prioritised for those who perform the best, DHSC said.
The app announcement comes as the NIHR launches a UK-wide clinical trials recruitment drive.
Studies are “too slow” to set up in the UK because of “unnecessary bureaucracy and duplication of activities across different agencies and sites”, DHSC said.
Researchers must currently agree separate contracts with each relevant area of the NHS, but the Government has pledged to introduce a “national standardised contract”.
Professor Lucy Chappell, chief scientific adviser at DHSC and chief executive of the NIHR, said: “Ensuring all sites are consistently meeting the 150-day or less set-up time will bring us to the starting line, but together we aim to go further, faster to ensure the UK is a global destination for clinical research to improve the health and wealth of the nation.”
The global clinical trials market is estimated to be worth at least 80 billion dollars (around £59 billion) by 2030, said Professor Andrew Morris, president of the Academy of Medical Sciences, which is a fellowship of leading scientists.
Those who are under-represented – including young, black and South Asian people – are particularly encouraged to register for trials, DHSC said.
Professor Morris added that the app will “accelerate the translation of cutting-edge treatments from laboratory to bedside” and that making research accessible to all communities can help “ensure that medical innovation benefits reach every corner of society.”
“The focus on improving participation from under-represented communities is important, though success will depend on earning trust and addressing the broader barriers to diverse participation”, he said.
Dr Richard Oakley, associate director of research and innovation at Alzheimer’s Society, welcomed the initiative and said it could “really increase the number and diversity of people taking part in critically-important dementia research”.
“With a growing pipeline of drugs for Alzheimer’s disease currently in trials, it’s vital programmes like this streamline recruitment so we can ensure these emerging treatments work for everyone,” he added.
