SPCRN

Apply to use SPCRN

How you apply to use SPCRN depends on what stage you have reached in planning your project.

We are happy to have informal discussions at any stage.

Projects which are not yet funded

If you do not yet have funding for your project, you can apply for an informal statement of support for your project (if you need it for funding applications etc). To do this simply:

1. Send a copy of your project protocol to Jill Sutherland j.sutherland@cpse.dundee.ac.uk with a covering note giving brief details on the following 5 criteria:
   
   1. the relevance of the project to primary care
   2. which nodes to be recruited from and if not ALL, why
   3. the number of practices and professionals required
   4. what role do you expect SPCRN to fulfil
   5. how practices will be reimbursed for their time
   If you are not sure of the answers to these questions, we will be happy to discuss them with you before you apply.
   
2. Your protocol and covering letter will then be viewed independently by at least 3 members of the SPCRN team. We may request further details from you to help us make a decision.
   
3. You will be informed of the decision within 2 weeks of requesting the informal statement of support.

Please note: there are NO deadlines for requesting the informal statement of support; you can apply any time. If you subsequently get eligible funding for your project, you will be asked to complete an application form so that the decision can be formally ratified by the whole team.

Funded Projects

For projects which are already funded, you need to formally apply to use SPCRN.

We can only provide practical support to projects that are eligibly funded.

1. Download our new Application Form to your computer. If you have any problems downloading the form please contact Jill Sutherland, SPCRN Administrator on tel. 01382 420024 or email j.sutherland@cpse.dundee.ac.uk.



2. Email Jill Sutherland (j.sutherland@cpse.dundee.ac.uk)
your completed application form along with your IRAS (ethics and R&D) forms by the deadline date (see table below). We will use your ethics and R&D forms to gather the additional information we require to review your study (i.e. to extract your protocol and information regarding subject numbers, etc).


3. The application is reviewed by the entire team, discussed and voted upon at the next monthly meeting (for deadlines and meeting dates please see the table below).



4. You will be informed of the decision within 7 days of the next meeting date.

Deadline	For meeting
19th July 2010	3rd August 2010
27th September 2010	12th October 2010
22nd November 2010	7th December 2010

Guidance to Researchers

Researchers are strongly advised to read the Detailed Guidance for Researchers document before applying to SPCRN.

Details about the criteria used for deciding which projects can use SPCRN can be seen in our Brief Guidance Leaflet for Researchers. Please note that the most up to date contacts can always be found at on the SPCRN contacts page.

Guidance to Researchers Flowchart

Click here for the Full Size Flowchart

Health Informatic Centre Support

The Health Informatics Centre (HIC) can support the Scottish Primary Care Research Network (SPCRN) with recruiting patients for research projects by:

1. Searching HIC's electronic datasets to find potential recruits for each study, aggregated by GP practice.Searching HIC's electronic datasets to find potential recruits for each study, aggregated by GP practice.
2. Providing additional sources to GP practice data by identifying potential recruits from hospitalisation data, prescribing data and disease registers.
3. Using HIC's data-entry clerical team to print and post GP-checked invitation letters to larger numbers of potential recruits.
4. Manage responses and reminder letters utilising web-based recruitment tracking Mail Manager providing aggregated progress figures to research team.
5. Identify cohort-matched control groups from HIC's electronic datasets.

For more information please visit the HIC website