Research & Clinical Trials

Clinical trial setup performance and research activity across the Shelford Group

The 150-day target: The government's Life Sciences Sector Plan commits to reducing clinical trial setup time to under 150 days by March 2026 — from regulatory submission to first participant recruited. The 150-day clock comprises three stages: MHRA/HRA approval (target: 60 days), site opening after approval (target: 60 days), and first participant recruited after site opening (target: 30 days). The data below relates to the site-level component: whether studies recruited their first participant within 90 days of HRA approval. This is a key NIHR Research Delivery Network performance metric, with funding implications for trusts.

Trial Setup Summary – Shelford Group

Source: Shelford Group internal data collection (NIHR/DHSC database). Latest period: full year 2025/26 (data cut 8 May 2026). Previous period: 12 months to December 2025.

Total Studies (Full Year 2025/26)

237

Across all 10 trusts · data cut 8 May 2026

First Participant Within 90 Days

108

45.6% of studies met the benchmark

Shelford 90-Day Achievement Rate

45.6%

Up from 34.3% (12m to Dec 2025) · NIHR target: 80%

Trust-Level Trial Setup Performance

Source: Shelford Group internal data collection (NIHR/DHSC database), full year 2025/26 (data cut 8 May 2026). Change column shows percentage point difference from previous period (12 months to December 2025).

Trust	Total Studies	Within 90 Days	After 90 Days	% Within 90d	Change (pp)

Setup Performance Over Time — Trust Progression

Source: Shelford Group internal data collection (NIHR/DHSC database). Three data snapshots: 12 months to December 2025, published 2025/26 (data cut 20 March 2026), and full year 2025/26 (data cut 8 May 2026). NIHR target is 80%.

First Participant Recruited Within 90 Days (% to Target)

Source: Shelford Group internal data collection (NIHR/DHSC database). Latest: full year 2025/26 (data cut 8 May 2026). Previous: 12 months to December 2025. NIHR target is 80%.

Study Volume and Setup Performance by Trust

Source: Shelford Group internal data collection (NIHR/DHSC database), full year 2025/26 (data cut 8 May 2026). Each bar shows the split between studies that recruited within 90 days (teal) and those that took longer (grey).

Future Additions

Planned data for future updates

This page will be expanded as additional research performance data becomes available. Potential additions include:

NIHR RDN recruitment data — commercial and non-commercial trial participant numbers by trust (published monthly by NIHR)
Commercial trial income — revenue from industry-sponsored trials (from trust annual reports, available July)
Recruitment to time and target — proportion of commercial trials meeting agreed recruitment targets
Trial portfolio size — number of active studies per trust on the NIHR portfolio
Setup time trends — quarterly tracking of 90-day performance against the March 2026 target