Two new online resources have been launched to increase participation in UK paediatric clinical trials and act as a teaching aid to the professionals that run them.

The new sections on the Health Talk Online and Youth Health Talk websites aim to help families thinking about taking part in a trial to make a more informed choice.

Paediatric trials have long suffered from significant recruitment problems, and half the medicines used in children rely on data from clinical studies involving adults.

Health Talk Online and Youth Health Talk were set up by Oxford-based health charity DIPEx and the new resources were produced with the support of the NHS' National Institute for Health Research (NIHR).

Professor Dame Sally Davies, NIHR director, UK chief medical officer and chief scientific adviser to the Department of Health, said: “Well-designed trials are a vital contribution to advancing medical knowledge in order to improve treatment, care and quality of life for patients.

“Children have their own specific needs and we need more trials in children to be sure that we are getting the best treatments that work for them and aren't just relying on evidence from adult trials.

“These two new sections will be a valuable resource to help other families thinking about taking part in a trial to make a more informed choice, and to learn more about trial methods and what they can expect if they take part.”

The NIHR also hopes clinical trials professionals will benefit from the project by gaining insights into what matters to parents and young people when they are invited to participate in a trial.

The Health Talk Online and Youth Health Talk websites were set up 10 years and attract more than two million unique visitors every year.

They feature video and audio clips from interviews by Oxford University's Health Experience Research Group involving over 2,000 people who talk about their experience of more than 70 health conditions.

For the new sections of the sites, the Group's research interviewed 29 parents and 32 children aged from ten upwards who have been on, or have been invited to participate in, a trial.

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