Hospital keeps its eye on the ball
Christiana Dinah was given the green light to pursue her ambition of turning Central Middlesex Hospital into a research hub for eye disease with one proviso: don’t ask for any money.
The ophthalmology consultant has been true to her word and, during the intervening four years, has helped turn the hospital into one of the NHS’s most highly regarded retina research facilities for commercial and non-commercial trials.
So far, the unit has undertaken ten trials of new drugs and procedures that tackle conditions leading to deteriorating sight and blindness and has won several industry and clinical research network awards.
These trials give local patients access to cutting-edge procedures and technology not yet available on the NHS, such as reducing the number of eye injections for various medical conditions.
Christiana said: “My job is to look at the most prevalent eye conditions in the local community and the shortcomings of current treatments and find suitable trials that address those problems.
“This includes diabetic eye disease, dry and wet macular degeneration, glaucoma and even cataracts. Our eye department has the full complement of services and we are expanding research into more areas to ensure as many patients as possible reap the benefits.”
The pandemic and issues around vaccine hesitancy has shed light on the sometimes complex challenge of engaging people of minority ethnic groups in research.
Christiana added: “This is, in part, due to mistrust of the research community but there is also evidence of a lack of active engagement of minority groups by researchers and funding bodies over the years.”
The majority of patients living in Brent, Harrow and Ealing had limited opportunity to participate in ophthalmology clinical trials until the unit opened in 2017.
It now has the highest recruitment in the UK into multiple trials with research with strong representation from minority groups ensuring new treatments are effective for everybody.
The personal touch has had a lot to do with the department’s impressive research uptake rate.
Patients are approached by members of their clinical care team to take part in a trial and seen in a dedicated research clinic. The clinical and research teams are the same staff so patients trust them and ethnically diverse reflecting the community it serves. A free taxi service also collects and drops off participants’ for research appointments.
Christiana said: “There is the benefit of new treatments ahead of the curve but these patients also feel a sense of contribution because we can’t make advances in medicine without them.”
Consultant eye surgeon Evelyn Mensah added: “I originally appointed Christiana to increase the research footprint within our department and she has exceeded this beyond what I could have possibly imagined. I am extremely proud of her.”
It promises to be a landmark year for the team, which is launching the first of four planned ‘home-grown’ research studies that will help ‘fill the knowledge gaps in our understanding of eye disease.’
The first study will be looking at the acceptability of a shot of medicine in the eye for patients with a condition that can eventually lead to the loss of their sight.
At present, there is no cure for the condition called geographic atrophy which is responsible for 25% of blindness in the UK. There are many potential treatments in research studies but no data on whether patients will find these treatments acceptable.
It seems fitting that the team’s first study looks at things from the patients’ perspective with an eye to influencing the design of future treatments.
(Photo credit: ROTFOLEB)