The visibility of research within mandatory National Health Service Trust Induction programmes in England: an exploratory survey study

Background: Mandatory National Health Service (NHS) Trust induction programmes are integral to welcoming new staff and provide opportunities to orientate staff to the organisation’s vision and strategy. Although research is recognised as fundamental to high quality care, little data exists regarding whether research activity (‘research delivery’) and staff engagement with research/professional development (‘clinical academic’) opportunities feature.

Aims: To conduct a service evaluation to identify NHS Trusts which include information about research delivery and clinical academic opportunities within their mandatory induction programmes.

Methods: Two online surveys were developed by the project team and emailed to Research and Development managers across England (identified from Clinical Research Network databases) (n=201), with follow-up reminders and targeted contact with non-responding sites (August-December 2021). Survey one screened for organisations which provided information on research delivery and/or clinical academic development opportunities during induction programmes. Survey two followed up with questions on content, method of delivery, length, and person responsible for training delivery. The work was reported in accordance with CHERRIES reporting standards.

Results: Survey one generated 124 unique responses (61% response rate). Thirty-nine percent of Trusts (n=48) featured information about research delivery and 24% (n=30) featured content on clinical academic opportunities. Twenty-one of 45 (47%) sites responded to survey two. There was wide variation in how material was delivered, by whom and for how long (median 5 mins). Where copies of induction material were provided (n=5) these varied widely in content and depth of coverage.

Discussion and conclusion: Mandatory induction is an opportunity to highlight research as core NHS business; however, this is not standard practice. Currently only 39% of Trusts include information about research delivery and only 24% highlight clinical academic opportunities. Further work is required to develop a template of core materials which could be tailored to individual Trust requirements.