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The National Pharmacy Association (NPA) has established a partnership with the Centre for Research Equity (CRE) to help independent pharmacies in the UK recruit members of the public for clinical trials and health research, particularly those from deprived communities and minority ethnic groups.

In their manifesto laying out the details of their collaboration, the NPA and CRE said they wanted to develop a network of research sites in community pharmacies to support people to provide views on their needs and build on the evidence around the determinants of health and social care inequalities and possible solutions.

The NPA and CRE said “research that is relevant and accessible requires a full understanding of population needs and priorities which can be gained only through direct, sustained and constructive interactions with communities”.

People in deprived communities and minority ethnic groups must be properly represented in trials

Insisting one of the partnership’s “principal aims is to help ensure that people living in deprived communities and minority ethnic groups are properly represented in trials”, the NPA and CRE referenced a Durham University study from 2014 which found 84.8 per cent of the population lived within a 20-minute walk of a GP premises, 98.2 per cent of whom were from the most deprived areas.

The study said that was “consistently lower when compared with the population living within a 20-minute walk of a community pharmacy”, reinforcing the importance of getting people from the most deprived communities to take part in research.

Professor Mahendra Patel, CRE’s director who is based in the University of Oxford's Nuffield Department of Primary Care Health Sciences, said: “Participants from underserved communities are often disproportionately under-represented in clinical research. Community pharmacies are a valuable local health resource.

“By engaging them as a channel to recruit participants, we can help ensure that research more accurately reflects the make-up of society and is inclusive and diverse.”

NPA vice-chair Sukhi Basra said it was common for GP practices to recruit patients into trials and insisted she was “confident the community pharmacy network can add value to research efforts”.

“NPA members taking part will be helping to ensure safe and effective healthcare practice across the UK and worldwide,” she said.

She added: “Developing a role in supporting clinical trials and health research could also be a financially valuable diversification opportunity for some hard-pressed pharmacies.”

The NPA urged any of its 6,000-member pharmacies interested in recruiting patients to email s.williams@npa.co.uk “regardless of location or the demographic they serve”.