Primary and Community Care

UKCRD programme partners are committed to bringing research to the patient, so that research cohorts better reflect the diverse populations across the UK. Primary and community care is the gateway to the NHS, where about 90% of patient encounters happen and is therefore an ideal environment to find and recruit patients to studies inclusively.

Here you will find information and updates about how the Department of Health and Social Care (DSHC), with system partners, are driving a ‘right research, right setting’ initiative.

Primary and community care

UKCRD programme partners are committed to driving a ‘right research, right setting’ initiative. This initiative will:

ensure that research is delivered in the most appropriate environment for the study design.
build research delivery capacity in primary and community care settings allowing more patients to get involved in research where they access care.

The UKCRD programme has identified UK-wide and nation-specific actions to build capacity in primary care and community settings and areas of focus include research infrastructure, research services provision, research skills, training and incentives. The UKCRD Primary Care Research Task and Finish Group, comprised of delivery partners and experts from across the primary care research sector, has identified initial actions to progress a ‘right research, right setting’ approach to the delivery of research in primary and community care.

Going forwards, UKCRD will monitor progress and implementation of ‘right research, right setting’ through the UKCRD Programme and Advisory boards. The UKCRD programme ‘right research, right setting’ initiative will meet primary and community care organisations wherever they are in their research journey, reflecting the diversity of the landscape across the UK.

Research infrastructure

The UK, across all four nations, supports world-class research thanks to its strong infrastructure made up of specialist facilities, a research delivery workforce and support services. However, much of this infrastructure is based within secondary care currently, with fewer research centres in primary and community care.

For research in primary and community care to thrive, it needs to be supported by a world-leading research delivery infrastructure. UKCRD programme partners are implementing the Voluntary Scheme for Branded Medicines Pricing Access and Growth (VPAG) Investment Programme across the UK. This will implement changes to foster growth for research in primary care, including by introducing new research infrastructure schemes to support research in primary care.

In April 2025, 21 Commercial Research Delivery Centres (CRDCs) began across the UK. These are bespoke centres of excellence for the delivery of commercial research.
A UK wide CRDC Network is being led by Leicester UHT to provide strategic and operational support across the four nations and support shared learning and innovative best practice.
In England, 12 NIHR CRDCs have primary care sites included within a commissioned hub and spoke model, to drive capacity and capability in community hospitals and in primary care.
NIHR launched a call in February, for over £10m to establish Primary Care Commercial Research Delivery Centres (PC-CRDCs) in England to work alongside the new CRDCs as part of a Network, the PC-CRDCs will launch in November 2025.
Additionally, NIHR launched a Capital Investment Call to support capital equipment and space to deliver research across all settings. This included up to £10m ring-fenced for NHS contracted primary care organisations in England.
The NIHR RDN has Agile Research Delivery Teams across England which can work flexibly to recruit and deliver studies in the community. This includes expanding research outside of hospital settings via mobile research units and community hubs.
In Wales, a primary and community commercial research network is being established, which will become a core part of the One Wales CRDC.
In Northern Ireland, a new primary care clinical research network is being established within the GP Federations structure and forming a key part of the Northern Ireland CRDC.
In Scotland, CRDCs are actively expanding their capabilities within community settings and across primary care, increasing capacity to reach communities across the country. CRDCs will work closely with existing primary care expertise, including the NHS Research Scotland Primary Care Network.

Research services provision

For effective research delivery in primary care and community settings, there must be robust services to support research including administration, governance, and other activities which are similar to the role of secondary care Trust R&D offices. In some UK nations, there is no consistent universal R&D support function in primary care and the level of support varies geographically. This patchy provision directly impacts research delivery, set up times and practicality of research in primary care.

UKCRD partners will explore how an improved, more consistent and more effective research services provision could be achieved across primary care and community settings, in the UK areas where this is needed. This will involve developing practical solutions for how this resource can be met effectively both now and in the future.

To achieve this, NIHR have developed mapping of the current research services landscape in England, to inform policy by DHSC.
In Wales and Northern Ireland, support for study set-up and oversight will be an integral part of the primary and community commercial research network.

In Scotland, new investments through the VPAG programme in infrastructure and staffing are being made to upgrade capacity and improve service delivery capability in areas like pharmacy and ophthalmology.

Research skills, training and incentives

Primary and community care reflects a very large population of diverse organisations and staff groups, with varying levels of awareness of research and the skills involved. Many different professionals across a range of organisations can be essential for the delivery of research in primary and community care, for example primary care nurses, healthcare assistants, pharmacists, paramedics, general practitioners but also practice managers, receptionists and administrative staff.

Additionally, there is a growing pool of academic researchers working within primary care, particularly in general practice. The level of research engagement in primary and community care varies geographically across the UK and a relatively small proportion of primary and community care is delivering commercial research.

Delivering commercial and collaborative research has considerable benefits in terms of patient outcomes and income generated but this can be initially challenging for small primary and community care organisations to be both considered a viable site by commercial sponsors and to gain the skills and experience to deliver at the start.

UKCRD programme partners are progressing a skills and training offer for primary care researchers, and incentives for primary care organisations and staff to get involved in research. These initiatives will help support and encourage the overall number of primary care organisations delivering research to increase but also allow those already involved to increase their activity and to include commercial research in their portfolios.

To achieve this, we are:

Establishing Commercial Trials Fellowships for GPs across the UK, including 11 fellowships through the NIHR School for Primary Care Research in England.
Publishing a UK Research Workforce Strategy in the autumn 2025. This strategy outlines a vision for embedding research and innovation into routine practice within the NHS, primary care, social care, and public health system over the next 10 years. It aims to involve everyone working in health, social care and public health, including the primary care workforce.
Further supporting GP to sign-up to NCVR by implementing the champion and placement schemes across GP practices in England.
Implementing an action plan to get more GPs research active, in England.
Implementing a Strategic Action Plan for building research capability for nursing, midwifery and allied health professions in Wales.