Clinical Trials Assistant; Set-up

Bedfordshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

Clinical Trials Assistant (Set-up) – Band 4. The closing date is 26 March 2026. The start date for this 12 month fixed term contract is 8 June 2026. Secondment will be considered for internal candidates dependent on agreement with their current department.

This is a new role to support the rapid set-up and delivery of commercial and non-commercial clinical trials. It is central to enable the Trust to meet national research performance benchmarks and sponsor activation targets. The successful candidate will be working cross site focusing on the local set-up of clinical trials and contributing to studies opening on time and recruiting to target.

You will aid the harmonisation of processes across both sites of the Trust, improving efficiency and reducing risk. Administration will include trial documentation management, coordination of approvals, liaison with sponsors and internal stakeholders, and tracking set-up metrics. Sponsorship not available.

The successful candidate should be well organised, able to manage their time effectively and work cohesively with both the R&D governance team and research delivery staff to set-up new clinical trials efficiently and effectively. You should be motivated by targets, timelines and delivering high-performance research.

The new Clinical Trials Assistant (CTA) will manage the administrative and coordination elements of trials, including documentation, trial and metric tracking, scheduling, and communication with research teams and sponsors. By working as part of the R&D governance team on each site, the CTA will improve timely progression of studies through feasibility, approvals, and set-up stages to the receipt of permission to open recruitment.

The post-holder will be integral in streamlining the study set-up process across both sites, for studies being opened at either a single site level or as a Trust. A fundamental part of the role will be to identify obstructions, inefficiencies, and areas for improvement in trial initiation and management.

The role will suit someone with project management experience, who is flexible and able to use their initiative to adapt very quickly to the role so that the positive impact of the appointment to the role is noted within months by targets being met or exceeded.

Previous knowledge of trial set-up and strong administration experience would be a distinct advantage.

Bedfordshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust provides hospital services to a growing population of around 700,000 people living across Bedfordshire and the surrounding areas across two busy hospital sites in Bedford and Luton. Both hospital sites offer key services such as A&E, Obstetrics-led Maternity and Paediatrics. You will be joining a friendly, high performing Trust committed to ensuring the health and wellbeing of staff.

As one of the largest NHS Trusts in our region you will have access to a programme of high quality training and development to help you grow your career. The Trust continues to be committed to delivering the best patient care using the best clinical knowledge and technology available.

Our values

We not only recruit based on qualifications and experience - we recruit individuals who demonstrate the behaviours which underpin our Trusts core values. We achieve this by using values based recruitment. We are dedicated to making our recruitment practices as inclusive as possible for everyone, we are committed to promoting equality and diversity, and creating a culture that values differences.

Please note that vacancies may close prior to the advertised closing date when sufficient number of applications have been received. All new staff will be subject to a probationary period covering first 6 months in post. Travel between hospital sites may be required. Please review all documents attached to ensure you familiarize yourself with all requirements of the job

MAIN DUTIES & RESPONSIBILITIES

Work efficiently and accurately, often within strict time constraints.

Coordinate and manage administrative aspects of clinical trial set-up across both sites.

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