HHTU News Roundup

ProACTIVE update

The proactive study is a 4 stage work package evaluating Alcohol Care Teams (ACTs). It is funded by NIHR Health and Social Care Delivery (HSDR) and sponsored by the University of Southampton. Prof Tom Phillips at the University of Hull and Prof Julia Sinclair at the University of Southampton are the chief investigators. ACTs are specialist services within hospitals that provide care for people with alcohol-related problems. Not all hospitals in England have an alcohol care team and there is limited evidence about the effectiveness of ACTs for the people who receive care from them.

ProACTIVE Work Package 2a (WP2a) is assessing the effectiveness of alcohol care teams by comparing the outcomes of people with alcohol-related problems who attended hospitals with alcohol care teams, Optimised Alcohol Care Teams (OACT) to those who attended hospitals with none, Non Optimised Alcohol Care Teams (NoACT).

Total recruitment in WP2a to date is 472 participants. OACT sites have completed recruitment with 244 participants and they are now closed to recruitment. NoACT sites are still open to recruitment and have recruited 228 participants to date. This includes 8 participants recruited in March.

The study is following up patients for six months to evaluate the impact of ACTs on patient and service outcomes. A total of 433 six-month follow-ups have been completed, representing a completion rate of over 70%. 16 follow-ups were completed in March.

DAMPen-D 2 study update

Around one third of people have delirium on admission to a Palliative Care Units (PCUs) and another third develop it during their stay; delirium causes distress, functional decline, higher care needs and unplanned hospital admissions. National guidance exists but it is hard for PCUs to implement because delirium care is complex and involves many people (Staff, family, carers).

We are aiming to improve the Detection, Assessment, Management and Prevention of Delirium through our intervention training with PCU staff. We have developed this intervention and are now looking to roll this our across PCUs in the UK.

We are working with 20 Palliative Care Units across England, Scotland and Wales where 10 will have this Intervention and 10 will continue with usual care.

The study is funded by the National Institute for Health Research. The study design has an initial pilot phase to identify any issues that would point to the study design not working. We are delighted to have passed this pilot phase and are now underway with the main study.

As of April 2026, we have 15 sites up and running with two further sites very close to being greenlighted. Recruitment is going to finish at the end of year but there has been an excellent start.

New Data Manager

We are delighted to welcome a new member to the team. Deepika Reddy joins us as a Data Manager. Deepika joins us with a background working in large Contract Research Organisations (CROs), bringing valuable experience in professional services support within complex research environments. She will be working across the portfolio to support the delivery of high-quality clinical trials and research studies. We’re excited to have Deepika on board and look forward to working together.

HHTU are taking part in FACTS

We are underway with Flourishing As Clinical Trial Staff (FACTS) where we are adopting a number of working practices to promote wellbeing within the Trials unit. FACTs is a Nottingham Clinical Trials Unit managed study which aims to target the unique challenges brought by working within clinical trials within the UK. The study is looking at how their guidance (developed from survey data collected 484 participants from UK Clinical Trials Units and focus groups) is implemented in our Clinical Trials Unit. This includes social activities and challenges for our staff. Look out for further updates on this throughout the year.