UHNM staff thanked for role played in national Covid-19 study

Staff from across University Hospitals of North Midlands NHS Trust (UHNM) have been thanked for the role they played in a two-year national study into Covid-19. 

UHNM was one of 135 sites across the UK to run the SARS-CoV-2 Immunity and Reinfection Evaluation (SIREN) study between June 2020 and March 2023, which helped to better understand immunity to the virus and vaccine effectiveness.

In total, 250 staff from both Royal Stoke and County hospitals volunteered their time to attend fortnightly covid swabbing and blood testing as part of the study, with all results processed in-house by UHNM’s Pathology and Virology departments. 

Martin Booth, Assistant Research Practitioner at UHNM said: “We are so grateful to every member of staff from a variety of ages, ethnicities and backgrounds who took part in the SIREN study, kindly volunteering their time for two years despite working through incredibly challenging circumstances. Their commitment to the study has helped provide valuable evidence on immunity following Covid-19 infection and vaccination and played a critical role in informing the national response to the pandemic.

“The study was a huge effort by all those involved including UHNM’s Research and Innovation and administration teams, as well as our Pathology trails team and Virology departments who processed almost 750,000 PCR swabs and 60,000 antibody tests during the three years the study was active. With the study now closed out and findings published in several national reports and journals, we wanted to take the opportunity to thank our UHNM colleagues for the incredible part they played.”

Funded by the Department of Health and Social Care and the National Institute of Health and Care Research, SIREN recruited 45,000 participants nationally, making it the largest study of its kind globally.

Martin said: “Undertaking the clinics was a mix of emotions, it was heartwarming to see dedication of staff who were working on frontline to help others, but at times it was really harrowing as you were hearing from people who were going through difficult circumstances. We felt like were a listening ear, and that colleagues could offload to us.

“It was also quite scary as we were swabbing more than 50 people a day who had potential covid infections, but the importance of the study took precedence over that and the benefits of doing it outweighed the risks to us. It put research at the forefront of the Trust’s agenda.”

Maxine Owen, a Research Nursing Assistant, had joined UHNM’s Research and Innovation department five months before the start of the pandemic. 

Maxine said: “I enjoyed the fact that we were helping to reassure staff coming into work that they were going home negative, and their families would be safe. I had only joined Research and Innovation in November 2019 and was just getting to grips with how the department worked, but it was great to be part of a big project, and we all worked together as a team with a shared purpose and a focus.”