We are in the midst of a global pandemic. COVID-19 is a disease caused by the Sars-CoV-2 virus. It has a high mortality rate in older people and has been especially dangerous in care homes where it has caused a lot of deaths.

In March of this year I, like so many other medical professionals who are also involved with research was asked to return to full time clinical practice to support the NHS response to the COVID-19 pandemic. My own non-COVID-19 Public Health focused research would be suspended. As I returned to clinical practice I also explored how the skills I have learnt participating, planning and delivering patient focused research could also support the COVID-19 response.

A respiratory consultant at University Hospital Southampton, Thomas Daniels approached me with an idea. Together we explored whether a simple intervention he used to help patients with cystic fibrosis could also help prevent transmission of the Sars-CoV-2 virus. There was some evidence that it might be an effective way of preventing transmission and we speculated that it might prevent infection in care homes. We got support from the University of Southampton, the Southampton clinical trials unit and the Wessex Applied Research Collaboration. Together we set about planning a preliminary trial called the Good-NIGHT COVID-19 study to test whether the intervention could be delivered in the care home setting.

As a team we have contacted twenty care homes via email and telephone in Hampshire to discuss participation in the study. I’m pleased to say that we have now recruited the six care homes needed for the preliminary study. Staff in four of these care homes are administering an intervention to try and reduce the transmission of Sars-CoV-2 to the vulnerable older people they look after. The remaining two care homes are acting as ‘controls’. The preliminary study will run for eight weeks. If this preliminary study is successful we plan to test the intervention in a large national trial involving dozens of care homes later this summer. It is early days but if the intervention works then it could cheaply and quickly be adopted in care home settings across the country – saving many lives.

For me personally, conducting research in the COVID-19 era has been a learning experience. Within hospitals, usually siloed specialists have rolled up their sleeves to work together. Likewise, in research I have witnessed a tremendous wave of collaboration across different institutions, specialities and professions. People just seem to say ‘yes’. Things have therefore moved very quickly. The Good-NIGHT COVID-19 trial was conceived, funded and had recruited the first care home in eight weeks. I will try and remember this as an exemplar of how things can be done for the rest of my career.

Research Team

Co-Chief investigators – Dr Thomas Daniels, Consultant Respiratory Physician, Honorary Senior Clinical Lecturer, University of Southampton, and  Dr Ryan Buchanan, Academic Clinical Lecturer, Primary Care, Population Science and Medical Education, University of Southampton

Partners: University Hospital Southampton NHS Foundation Trust, Southampton CTU & NIHR ARC Wessex

Co-applicants – Professor Julie Parkes, Professor of Public Health, University of Southampton, Professor Helen Roberts, Professor of Medicine for Older People, University of Southampton, Emeritus Professor Jeremy Wyatt – University of Southampton, Dr Beth Stuart – Medical Statistician, Southampton Clinical Trials Unit, Dr Kinda Ibrahim – Senior Research Fellow, Faculty of Medicine, University Hospital Southampton NHS Foundation Trust, and Dr Andrew Cook – Public Health Consultant, Fellow of Health Technology Assessment, University of Southampton