It all depends on the treatment we’re looking at. If we are looking at simple changes to care pathways that we think are much more efficient, and the results from the study were positive, we would be able to make the changes quite quickly so they wouldn’t take long to implement.
If you’re looking at a drug trial, it could take one-to-two years just to set it up. Firstly you have to persuade a funder that your idea is worth looking at, that you have the competence to carry it out and that you have fully thought it through. Then before you start you have to make sure everything is set up correctly to ensure patient safety, the research departments have to check it and then it has to be approved by an ethics committee to make sure there is minimal risk of patient harm. Then you have to look at how you capture the data.
Depending on how big your trial is, it could take two years to recruit all your patients. You have to follow them up to see how the treatment worked which could be another two years or more. It has to be analysed and put in a report to the funder and peer-reviewed journals to show what you’ve found. You need to make sure the right action is taken on the results, which could mean presenting the results to relevant NHS staff and/or patients and communicating with the media.
For some studies it could be 10 or more years from initial ideas to information that changes clinical practice. However, these types of large scale studies with a very long follow-up period are how we found out how important it is for people with diabetes to keep tight control of their blood sugar levels, or that being very overweight carries risks of developing heart disease and diabetes.