We spoke with two people who were participating in clinical trials. They told us that they had received sufficient information to give their consent to the trial and understood about the limits of a clinical trial. One person said they were “extremely well looked after” and could find no “significant faults” with the whole process to date.

People were assessed and screened prior to commencing a trial and this included tests and consultation about suitability. They saw a doctor at every visit to the centre and their progress and response to the trial was monitored.

There were effective systems in place to reduce the risk of infection. The centre was clean and well maintained and staff had received infection control training.

People were made aware of how to complain about any aspect of the service, however there had been no complaints in the last 12 months. People said that they would tell staff if they had a concern and had always received prompt responses.

There were detailed systems for reviewing the quality and safety of each clinical trial and these included quality assurance reviews, audit and inspection by the trial sponsors.

In this report the name of a registered manager appears who was not in post and not managing the regulatory activities at this location at the time of the inspection. Their name appears because they were still a registered manager on our register at the time.

The people we spoke with were positive about their experiences at Sarah Cannon Research UK. They said they were treated as individuals and had enough information to make a decision about whether to participate in a clinical trial. They understood what being a participant in a clinical trial could potentially offer them, the risks and possible benefits. People using this service were positive about staff at this location and said that they could always ask for more information and would raise a concern if they had one.