Consultant receives prestigious award at the Intensive Care Society state-of-the-art conference | News

Pictured above: Sarah Buckley, Research Nurse, Brendan Sloan, Consultant and Emily Raynor, Research Nurse.

A sheer dedication to research was recognised at the Intensive Care Society annual conference held at the International Conference Centre in Birmingham at the end of June.

Brendan Sloan, Consultant in Anaesthetics and Intensive Care Medicine at Mid Yorkshire Teaching NHS Trust, received the Joint Intensive Care Society and National Institute of Health Research (NIHR) Award, for his work within the Trust Intensive Care Unit (ICU).

Brendan, who is the appointed research champion for Critical Care, works tirelessly with both the research team and ICU teams, to ensure that all eligible patients can join appropriate research trials that the Trust is taking part in. With 10 current studies running within Critical Care, as well as three in Anaesthesia, Brendan plays a monumental role in shaping the future of health care, identifying improvements in patient care and pioneering techniques.

Brendan’s ability to make a difference was displayed during the pandemic as he assisted both the national COVID-19 trials (including the RECOVERY trial) and helped open new studies within critical care.

The RECOVERY trial is an international clinical trial identifying treatments that may be beneficial for people hospitalised with suspected or confirmed COVID-19. The trail has found four treatments that are effective for severe COVID-19 and is currently testing the following suggested treatments to find out whether they are more effective in helping people recover than the standard care that all patients receive.

Brendan personally recruited over 50 patients to take part in the RECOVERY trial and helped to double the ICU Research Nurse capacity, allowing more patients to be involved in research.

A pioneer for the Trust, Brendan is the highest local recruiter to UK-ROX, an ICU randomised trial comparing two approaches to oxygen therapy. The Trust as one of the top recruiting sites nationally, having recruited well over 200 patients against a target of 165.

The Trust were also the first site to recruit to VITDALIZE, a study looking at Vitamin D supplementation in Intensive Care, and recently recruited the 300th patient nationwide.

As a prize Brendan received a £2,000 grant from the NIHR to deliver research to improve people’s health, he commented:

“I am delighted to have received this award and excited about the opportunities within research that can come with the grant received. The money awarded will be put towards raising awareness of research for staff and patients to encourage increased engagement and participation. High quality research is essential to improving both outcomes and patient experience.

“I would like to assign an amount to be used for providing ‘thank you’ cards to ICU trial participants which, as well as thanking them for their contribution, would signpost to study results and future NIHR research opportunities.”

Len Richards, Chief Executive at Mid Yorkshire Teaching NHS Trust, added:

“Brendan’s passion for improving care for patients shines through in his work in this field and we are very proud of him for achieving this prestigious award. It’s great to see Brendan and the team getting the recognition they deserve for a job well done.”