Overview

The Scottish Diabetes Research Network (SDRN) has been established to speed up development and adoption into the clinic of better treatments to improve the lives of people with diabetes. We would like to invite you to consider giving your permission to be contacted about research studies which may affect the way in which patients with diabetes are treated in future.

Research may include measuring the effects on diabetes of:

• New medicines
• Lifestyle interventions such as diet or exercise
• Genetic make-up

Research Register

We would like to ask if we can approach you about any research which is relevant to your individual medical history. By signing the Permission to Contact form, we will hold your contact details on a secured Research Register and write to you with details of any studies for which you may be a suitable participant. Access to this database is strictly limited to your normal healthcare provider (usually your GP or hospital consultant) and Scottish Diabetes Research Network (SDRN) staff. Sometimes pharmaceutical companies sponsor clinical research but your details will not be passed on unless you have agreed to take part in a study. Please feel free to discuss with family members or friends your decision before agreeing to join.

If you agree to join the Research Register you will be given general information about diabetes research in Scotland and a credit-card sized reminder which details how you can leave the register if you change your mind later. Withdrawal involves a simple phone call to a central number and will not affect your diabetes care in any way.

If you would like to take part in a study that we send you details of, there will be a contact telephone number included in the study information pack. You are not obliged to take part in any study that you receive information about and, to ensure your safety and well-being, you are only allowed to take part in one study at any one time! Any participation in a research study is entirely voluntary and you are free to withdraw at any time without having to give the study staff a reason. All of the studies which come from the Scottish Diabetes Research Network have been independently reviewed by a Medical Research Ethics Committee and approved to be conducted in Scotland.

How to join the Research Register

Please read the Patient Information Sheet carefully. If you have any questions, feel free to phone the SDRN office (01382 660111 x 34594) or email admin{at}sdrn.org.uk. Once you have received satisfactory answers to any questions do the following 3 steps:

1. Print out 3 copies of the Permission to Contact form and ask a family member or friend to witness you signing all 3 copies of the form.
2. Take 1 copy of the form to your normal diabetes healthcare provider, either your hospital diabetes clinic or GP, keep 1 copy for yourself and send 1 copy to the SDRN office (Diabetes Support Unit, level 8, Ninewells Hospital and Medical School, Dundee DD1 9SY). The CHI number that the form asks for is made up from your date of birth (6 numbers) and 4 other numbers. You may find it on any hospital appointment cards; if you cannot find your CHI, please put your date of birth in this space.
3. Print out the Withdrawal Card, complete, and keep somewhere safe.

Please read the Protecting Your Personal Data in Diabetes Healthcare & Research document regarding the SDRN data protection policy.