The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has affected almost every aspect of healthcare, including research. Many ongoing clinical trials were paused or adjusted to the new circumstances, the safety of all involved and patient outcomes being central concerns. Upcoming trials were put on hold and new trials were quickly designed and conducted to investigate COVID-19 treatments and vaccines.

This article is a reflection on the effects of the pandemic on the work of a children’s clinical research facility in the UK and how some of these effects were mitigated. It describes the adaptations made to the delivery of study interventions and to staff’s ways of working, showing that some of the changes prompted by the pandemic had positive effects that will extend beyond. While this article relates to a single children’s research facility, many of the lessons learned can be applied more widely in research and clinical care settings.

Nursing Children and Young People. doi: 10.7748/ncyp.2022.e1404

Peer review

This article has been subject to open peer review and checked for plagiarism using automated software

Correspondence

allysongray@hotmail.com

Conflict of interest

None declared

Gray A (2022) Mitigating the effects of COVID-19 on the work of a children’s clinical research facility. Nursing Children and Young People. doi: 10.7748/ncyp.2022.e1404

Acknowledgements

The researcher receives funding from the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) ICA Pre-Doctoral Clinical Academic Fellowship (NIHR 301107). The views expressed here are those of the author and not necessarily those of the NIHR or the Department of Health and Social Care. The author would like to thank for their assistance with this article: the NIHR Clinical Research Facility at Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children NHS Foundation Trust; Jo Wray, senior research fellow – health psychology, Centre for Outcomes and Experience Research in Children’s Health, Illness and Disability, Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children NHS Foundation Trust; Polly Livermore, clinical academic lead and blood, cells and cancer matron, Centre for Outcomes and Experience Research in Children’s Health, Illness and Disability, Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children NHS Foundation Trust; Mariacristina Scoto, consultant neuromuscular, Great Ormond Street Hospital and University College London Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health; Deirdre Leyden, patient and public involvement and engagement lead for research, NIHR Great Ormond Street Hospital Biomedical Research Centre and Clinical Research Facility

Published online: 07 February 2022