Scaling Research in General Practice
There’s been a real and positive shift in primary care research in recent years. More GPs are now trained and recognised as Principal Investigators (PIs), which has been a great success — particularly for non-commercial and academic studies. Many of those projects are straightforward to deliver: reviewing notes, evaluating care pathways, or engaging patients through surveys. They’re accessible, clinically relevant, and help build research confidence across general practice.
Commercial trials, though, are a different story. They’re protocol-driven, time-sensitive, and operationally demanding. Each visit might involve multiple measurements, bloods that need spinning and aliquoting, samples packaged on dry ice, courier logistics, and complex data capture. The PI remains crucial for oversight and governance — but most of the actual delivery happens around them.
If we want to scale research in general practice, we need to build teams that can handle this kind of work efficiently. It’s not about using more partner time; it’s about using the right level of staff for each task. A sustainable, scalable model might include:
- Sub-Investigators (Sub-Is) — who can take on delegated clinical tasks and patient contact under PI supervision. These might be portfolio or salaried GPs, or in time physician associates, depending on the practice setup. To make research financially viable and scalable, it makes sense to reserve partner or senior GP time for oversight and decision-making rather than routine study activity. To be sustainable, teams need to be efficient, effective, and productive — using the most appropriate (and often most cost-efficient) person for each task, while ensuring everyone works at the top of their capability.
- Research nurses and practitioners — running visits, collecting data, managing safety, and ensuring protocol compliance.
- HCAs acting as study technicians — performing routine measurements, phlebotomy, ECGs, and sample processing.
- Admin and data staff — handling entry, query resolution, and documentation so clinicians can stay focused on patients.
- Coordination and logistics roles — managing IMP storage, courier bookings, and communication with labs and sponsors.
With the right mix, the PI can concentrate on leadership and quality while the delivery team keeps the study moving. Practices can take part in more research without it becoming unmanageable or unprofitable — and patients still gain access to new studies locally.
Local senior GPs need to support recruitment and engagement. Modern trials depend as much on coordination and logistics as they do on clinical skill. If we invest in those roles, research becomes something any practice can do — not just a few with spare capacity.
These staff need to be able to work in a mobile flexible way. We need some full time research staff but also a “bank” of staff that can be called on to work in their or nearby practices to meet the study timelines.