South

Name of organisation	NHS Lothian
Population	978K
Annual outpatient visits	730K
R&D Director	Professor Alasdair Gray
Address	Usher Building, The University of Edinburgh, 5-7 Little France Road, Edinburgh BioQuarter (Gate 3), EH16 4UX
Telephone	0131 242 6476
Email	enquiries@accord.scot
Web	www.ACCORD.ed.ac.uk

This includes NHS Lothian and NHS Borders and is managed from the Academic and Clinical Central Office for Research & Development (ACCORD) office in NHS Lothian. The South-East node has responsibility for NRS contractual issues and training.

NHS Lothian R&D is part of ACCORD: a partnership between the University of Edinburgh, Scotland's premier research University and one of the top five in Europe for Biomedical Sciences, and NHS Lothian Health Board, with a strong international reputation for its clinical research activities. This partnership is underpinned by the first joint Research Framework Agreement in Scotland.

Mission: To promote clinical research excellence for the health and wealth of Lothian and Scotland.

In order to promote the health, economic and academic benefits of clinical research, ACCORD plays a leading role in the support and delivery of academic and commercial clinical research by streamlining clinical research governance systems and facilitating clinical trial startup. Providing a one-stop support resource for researchers from the inception of their clinical research study to close down, our aim is to ensure we can all meet research governance and regulatory requirements, fulfilling legal, ethical and scientific obligations, whilst nurturing and attracting world-class research. 

Particular strengths include:

Cardiovascular	Critical Care	Diabetology	Gastroenterology
Infection	Opthalmology	Respiratory Medicine	Rheumatology
Women’s Health	Regenerative medicine	Oncology	Telehealth

Services

Support to researchers and partners is provided in every activity during the lifetime of a clinical research project.

Set Up

• Regulatory submission – REC; MHRA; ARSAC
• Infrastructure support – CRF, Imaging, Safe Haven, Biorepository, CRF/Ecrf Design
• IMP
• Trial master file set up
• DSMC

Data Management

• Recruitment reporting
• Data entry
• Data queries
• SAE resolution
• Database lock
• Statistical analyses

Pre-award

• Risk assessment
• Sponsorship
• Feasibility
• Costing
• Protocol development
• Analytical plan

Study Conduct

• Screening
• Recruitment tracking
• Randomisation
• Data collection
• Protocol amendment
• Trial monitoring
• IMP accountability
• Pharmacovigilance

End of Trial

• Site close out
• End of trial
• Notification
• IMP reconciliation
• TMF audit
• Archiving
• Publication

Key R&D Contacts

Clinical Research Facility	Corrienne.McCulloch@nhs.scot
Biorepository and NHS labs	Elaine.Shearer@nhs.scot and craig.marshall@nhs.scot
Safe haven (DataLoch)	dataloch@ed.ac.uk
NHS Pharmacy	hazel.milligan@nhs.scot and Pharmacy.ClinicalTrials@nhs.scot
Imaging	Edimg.studyinfo@ed.ac.uk
Clinical Trials Unit	ECTU@ed.ac.uk
Patient and Public Involvement Advisor	carol.porteous@ed.ac.uk