IMH researchers recognised for outstanding consumer partnerships in clinical trials
- Courtney West
- 18 hours ago
- 3 min read
At the IMH, we work hand-in-hand with health service managers and commissioners, clinicians, patients and people with lived experience to optimise musculoskeletal health and physical activity.
This commitment was recognised this week when members of our team received the Inclusivity and Consumer Partnership in Clinical Trials Award at the SLHD International Clinical Trials Day. The award celebrates the team’s work embedding consumer voices into the design and delivery of two clinical trials: the PROTECT and RECITAL trials.
The PROTECT Trial is evaluating a tailored ward-based fall prevention program designed to reduce falls in hospitals, while the RECITAL Trial (Virtual Fracture Clinic Trial) is exploring whether virtual fracture clinics can provide care that is as effective as traditional face-to-face fracture clinics for people with simple bone fractures.
Putting lived experience at the centre of research
Both trials worked with consumers, including patients, carers and health professionals, to ensure the research addressed real-world needs and could work effectively within existing health systems.
In the PROTECT Trial, consumers brought lived experience as older people who had fallen in hospital and as carers of older hospital patients. Consumer representatives were embedded within the research team and contributed to leadership and coordination of consumer involvement throughout the project. A dedicated PROTECT Consumer Advisory Panel was also established to provide ongoing consultation and feedback.
Similarly, the RECITAL Trial involved consumers with experience using virtual fracture clinics or caring for someone recovering from a fracture. Consumer representatives contributed to trial methodology, monitoring trial progress, reviewing results and editing manuscripts. They also helped shape participant-facing documents and advised on outcomes that mattered most to patients.
The impact of consumer involvement
By partnering closely with people with lived experience, the research teams ensured the trials focused on questions that matter not only to researchers and clinicians, but also to patients, carers and the broader health system.
This approach delivered meaningful benefits, including:
Strong recruitment outcomes, with PROTECT exceeding recruitment targets and RECITAL completing recruitment in under 14 months.
Improved participant-facing materials that were more relevant, accessible and easy to understand.
Inclusion of patient consumer investigators as authors on published protocol papers.
Positive patient experience outcomes.
Advice for teams new to consumer engagement
The teams shared several lessons for researchers looking to build meaningful consumer partnerships in clinical trials:
Seek consumer engagement from the very beginning of the trial design.
Involve consumers from the very beginning of trial design.
Communicate regularly using consumers’ preferred methods, whether phone, video call or email.
Schedule meetings at convenient times and locations, particularly for clinician consumers balancing clinical duties. Consider meetings during lunch breaks at their location (and bring lunch if possible!)
Provide opportunities to debrief before and after investigator meetings.
Recognise and reimburse consumers for their valuable expertise and contributions where possible.
This award highlights the importance of genuine consumer partnerships in creating research that is relevant, inclusive and capable of improving healthcare outcomes for the people who matter most.
We would like to congratulate both research teams, and thank all our consumers involved in these trials, our IMH Consumer Advisory Registry and the Consumer Engagement Portfolio. You help shape our research to make sure it’s getting to the right people, in the right way.
PROTECT Trial
Chief Investigator: Prof Cathie Sherrington
Trial Manager: Charlotte McLennan (Consumer Co-ordinator)
Consumer Investigator: Jenny Rayner
Consumer Advisor: Cherie Thompson
SLHD Investigators: Prof Vasi Naganthan, Dr Andrew Hallahan, Tamsin McVeigh, Wendy Tilden, Sally Delaney, Prof Leanne Hassett, Dr Abby Haynes, Dr Marina Pinheiro, Dr Venisa Kwok, and Dr Veethika Nayak
RECITAL Trial
Chief Investigator: Min Jiat Teng
Consumers: Ray and Kerry Thomas
SLHD Investigators: A/Prof Adrian Traeger, Prof Chris Maher, Miranda Shaw, Dr Owen Hutchings, Ben Warnock, Isabella Khoudair, Dr Jeff Petchell, A/Prof Mark Horsley, and Rowena Charteris
