HDFT Research & Innovation

01/01/2026

Today marks not only the start of 2026, but also our 20th anniversary year - marking 2 transformative decades of life-changing NIHR research 🎉

Throughout this year, we'll be celebrating our enormous impact across health and care, showcasing how our work:
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 changes lives
💎 improves quality of care
⚡ powers pioneering new treatments
🏥 helps make the NHS more efficient and effective for everyone

And we're not stopping here. Building on 20 years of progress, we're determined to have the greatest impact we can by continuing to tackle the biggest health and care challenges of our time.

Watch this space throughout 2026 to hear more about our highlights from the last 20 years and how we'll continue to drive life-changing research for the health and wealth of the nation.

01/01/2026

Wishing everyone a very Happy New Year, including our fantastic NHS colleagues who help us to run our many research studies at Harrogate and District NHS Foundation Trust.

We hope you all have a fantastic 2️⃣0️⃣2️⃣6️⃣🥳

Whether you’ve been caring and treating patients on the wards, preparing meals, keeping services moving, operating, prescribing, or supporting teams behind the scenes – thank you for everything you’ve given this year.

Wishing you a very happy New Year 💙

17/10/2025

It's fantastic to hear about such a positive outcome for baby Freddie as a result of his family participating in the Generation Study.

The chances of protecting his eyesight have been greatly improved by discovering his eye tumours early and starting his treatment very quickly.

Please visit https://www.generationstudy.co.uk/ if you would like to learn more about the study.

If you are currently pregnant, you can also register your interest in taking part at Harrogate and District NHS Foundation Trust via the study website.

02/10/2025

The Generation Study opened to recruitment at Harrogate and District NHS Foundation Trust in late July and we've had an amazing response so far, with 230 participants agreeing to take part to date!

Run by Genomics England in partnership with the NHS, the Generation Study is investigating the genomes of newborn babies to look for 200+ rare conditions which usually appear in early childhood and can be treated within the NHS. The study will help us to learn more about genes and health, so that we can improve testing and treatment for genetic conditions in the future.

If you are currently pregnant and 16+ years old, you may be eligible to take part.

The test takes place shortly after birth: a small sample of blood is taken from the umbilical cord for most babies, with the option for a heel prick instead if cord blood sampling is unsuccessful. Test results are received within a few months.

Taking part is free and optional.

Please visit https://www.generationstudy.co.uk/ for more information - you can register your interest there, or contact the Harrogate study team directly by calling/texting 07990 510847 or emailing
hdft.generationstudy@nhs.net

22/08/2025

Our team set up a "Be Part of Research" stand outside of Herriot's Restaurant yesterday to showcase some of our studies and talk to patients, visitors and staff about the work we do here at Harrogate and District NHS Foundation Trust.

We had lots of interest and some great discussions, with many people wishing to register their details on the Be Part of Research website.

Be Part of Research is an annual campaign led by the National Institute for Health and Care Research. It seeks to raise awareness of the important role health and care research plays, as well as to drive participation in research studies.

The Be Part of Research website (https://bepartofresearch.nihr.ac.uk/) is a free service which makes it easy to find and take part in vital health and care research across the UK. After registering, you can enter the health conditions you’re interested in and the site will match you to suitable studies and send you information on how to take part.

Whatever your state of health, you can help us to find new and better ways to treat conditions and improve care.

Pictured are our Research Nurses Annie, Louise and Sarah at our promotional stand.

02/07/2025

Our team recently celebrated our first year of recruitment to BaBi Harrogate! 🥳

Born and Bred in Harrogate is being run at Harrogate and District NHS Foundation Trust as part of a group of ‘Born and Bred in (BaBi)’ research projects about families and children to help us learn more about how they can live healthier, happier lives.

Over 1,200 local mothers and babies have been recruited to the project so far and they will help us to improve the care for families in the Harrogate and District area.

Women booked for maternity care at Harrogate District Hospital are invited to become part of the study by a Trust midwife during routine antenatal appointments. If happy to participate, health researchers will link together routinely collected data from parent and child, such as blood pressure measurements or details of baby’s height and weight, to see how health, care and services could be improved through research and planning in Harrogate and beyond.

This research may identify relationships between events that happen in pregnancy and a child’s future health, or highlight if childhood conditions such as asthma are more prevalent in one particular area of the district.

BaBi Harrogate has recently identified three top priority areas to focus its research projects on: 1) childhood obesity; 2) lower deprivation communities; and 3) children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND).

We would like to say a big thank you to all of our participants who have kindly agreed to take part in BaBi.

For more information on the project, please visit: https://www.hdft.nhs.uk/news/new-research-study-launched-in-harrogate/ and follow our BaBi Harrogate page for updates.

26/06/2025

We celebrated at our team Wellbeing Day this week!

Our team wore red to show our support and appreciation for all those undertaking, supporting and participating in clinical research. 💃

The day was a great opportunity to celebrate the innovative treatments, systems and changes in care that have arisen from research.

Staff also brought some delicious home-made food to share while we discussed important topics relating to the team's health and wellbeing.

Founded in 2020, is celebrated annually in June. The event is not country, group or organisation-specific and is powered by collective efforts; the campaign has been supported internationally across Africa, Australia, Chile, China, India, Italy, Malaysia, Spain and the USA as well as here in the UK.

20/06/2025

20/06/2025

Happy Day from all of us at Harrogate and District NHS Foundation Trust's Research and Innovation Team! 🎈

Day was founded in 2020 and is celebrated in June each year. The event encourages people to wear red to demonstrate their support and appreciation for all those undertaking, supporting and participating in clinical research. It is an opportunity to showcase the fantastic work, learning legacy and innovative treatments, systems and techniques that have arisen from research.

Our team will be getting together to celebrate at our upcoming Wellbeing Day on Tuesday 24th June - look out for our photos next week!

06/06/2025

The GEDACNE-1 study has recently opened at Harrogate and District NHS Foundation Trust and our Dermatology Research Team are looking for participants.

The trial is evaluating the safety and efficacy of a new topical drug (applied directly to the skin) for acne vulgaris.

If you are aged between 9 and 49, have acne vulgaris on your face (or face and trunk) and are interested in taking part, please get in touch and we will send you more information:

📧 hdft.dermatologyresearch@nhs.net
☎️ 01423 555468

Please share this information with any friends or family who may be interested in taking part. Thank you.

27/05/2025

We are still recruiting well to the BaBi Harrogate study! 🎉👶

We currently have 1118 recruits and this number is increasing by the day.

Our team will be celebrating our achievements with a Babi stand in the antenatal clinic at Harrogate and District NHS Foundation Trust on the morning of Tuesday 10th June.

Our first recruits, baby Freddie and Mum Georgie (one of our Research Nurses), will be in attendance and we look forward to meeting anyone who wants to learn more about the study and meet our fantastic team.

23/05/2025

🧠 👂 This week is Dementia Action Week. What impact does hearing loss have on dementia risk?

New research found that people with hearing loss had an increased risk of dementia and Alzheimer’s disease. The greater the hearing loss, the higher the risk of dementia.

💬 Tom is a researcher, but he also has experience of hearing loss. He commented: “As a clinician, I need to be aware of the importance of detecting and managing hearing loss.

"At a personal level, I have moderate hearing loss and wear hearing aids. The main benefits for me are immediate and more to do with social life and personal well-being, though of course if they protect my brain that is great too."

The next step for this research is to test whether providing hearing aids early, with the right support for long-term use, can reduce dementia risk.

Read more in the comments below 👇