Source the whole ecosystem from one network.
PCRA provides the adjunct services that keep community and primary care studies recruiting, retained, and on time — delivered by experienced community research nurses and coordinators, at a price that reflects delivery, not overhead.
~200
research-active GP practices
9M+
patients reached
<4 wks
typical study activation
The ecosystem, end to end.
Recruiting into primary care and community studies fails for predictable reasons: eligible patients are never identified, participants can't travel to visits, and sites don't have capacity for the extra work a protocol demands. PCRA solves each of these with services designed as adjuncts to your sites — bolt on exactly what a study needs, nothing it doesn't.
Tap any step to jump to the detail.
- StartYour study
- 1Site provisionWe find the community-based sites that are right for your study.
- 2Clinical trial prescreeningWe turn the responses your campaigns generate into screening-ready participants.
- 3Home-visiting blood draws and clinical assessmentsMobile nursing teams take study visits to participants' homes, anywhere in the UK.
- FinishYour study, delivered
Core services
Each one available on its own, or in any combination your protocol needs.
Site provision
Our core offering: finding the community-based sites that are right for each study. We match your protocol to GP practices and community services with the right patients, clinicians and capacity, with realistic feasibility and support through to set-up.
Clinical trial prescreening
Centralised pre-screening: a participant identification (PIC) and social-media response unit for your sites — primary care, secondary care, and private. We take the responses your advertising and social campaigns generate and turn them into qualified, screening-ready participants. Pre-screening calls are made only by nurses or experienced research healthcare assistants — never the “signposters” many providers rely on — and multilingual staff are available for worldwide studies. To protect quality, we cap pre-screening at 200 patients per study per week.
Home-visiting blood draws and clinical assessments
Our mobile community nursing teams take the visit to the participant: phlebotomy, sample processing and shipping, vital signs, ECGs, questionnaires, and study drug accountability — in the participant's home, anywhere in the UK. Fewer missed visits, better retention, and access to housebound and rural populations most studies never reach.
Partner
Study design and write-up, with Clinical Research Solutions
If your study needs more than sites, we partner with Clinical Research Solutions (CRS), a clinician-led UK contract research organisation working with pharmaceutical and medtech companies — from clinical trials to quality-improvement initiatives. CRS can help with protocol and study design, ethics and regulatory submissions, data management and statistics, and the final report and evidence package — as a full service, or just the parts you need.
No one else is doing all of this.
From site provision to home visits — sponsors can source it all through one agreement, with one network.
Built for primary care. Priced for value.
Experienced community teams
Our services are delivered by research nurses and coordinators who work in primary care and community settings every day. They know the patients, the practices, and the protocols.
Genuine value
PCRA runs as a commercial organisation, to commercial timelines — profit just isn't our primary goal. Services are delivered through existing clinical providers, so you pay for delivery, not for layers of overhead.
One agreement, one network
Add any of these services to a study running at our sites — or use them standalone to support your own.
Common questions
What is PCRA's site provision service?
It's our core service. We find the community-based sites that are right for each study — GP practices and community services with the right patients, clinicians and capacity — and support them through to set-up.
How do you match sites to a study?
We look at each study's protocol, patient group and setting, and match it to member sites that fit, using what we know about each site's patients, clinicians, facilities and capacity. Feasibility is realistic, not optimistic.
How many sites can you draw on?
Around 200 member sites — GP practices, community trusts and hospices — covering more than 9 million patients across the UK.
Can you re-site a study that is struggling to recruit?
Yes. Where recruitment has stalled, sites have underdelivered or timelines have slipped, we can re-site the study at practices that fit and restart quickly.
Do you help with contracts and study set-up?
Yes. We help with contracting and start-up and coordinate centrally, so you work through one relationship rather than approaching each site yourself.
How do you price your services?
We price to NIHR standards, using the same interactive Costing Tool (iCT) methodology that underpins the National Contract Value Review.
Will sites know who the sponsor is?
Your company's identity stays confidential until a site engages with your study.
Can you provide secondary care sites?
Our network is community-based, but secondary care sites — hospital research teams and clinical research facilities — can ask us to share their details with sponsors. If your study needs them, we can introduce you so you can contact them directly. There is no charge for the introduction, and we don't make a recommendation.
Can you provide private clinical trial sites?
Yes, where a study needs something our primary care members can't provide. We can introduce you to providers in our affiliate group, which is open to private clinical trial sites and other patient-facing providers.
How quickly can PCRA provide a feasibility count?
Typically within one week of receiving your protocol — counts are drawn from the coded GP records of more than 9 million patients across the network.
Who makes PCRA's pre-screening calls?
Only nurses or experienced research healthcare assistants — never generic 'signposters'. Multilingual staff are available for worldwide studies.
How many patients can be pre-screened per week?
We deliberately cap pre-screening at 200 patients per study per week to protect call quality.
Can PCRA support studies at sites outside its own network?
Yes. Every service on this page is available standalone for your own sites — primary care, secondary care, and private.
Do home visits cover the whole of the UK?
Yes — our mobile community nursing teams deliver phlebotomy, sample processing and shipping, vital signs, ECGs, questionnaires, and study drug accountability in participants' homes anywhere in the UK.
Tell us what your study needs.
From a single feasibility count to full at-home visit delivery, we'll scope it quickly and quote it clearly.