Making trials more accessible through better patient information leaflets

Clinical trials are research projects that compare different treatments to see which one is best. People who are asked to take part in clinical trials are often given written information about the trial first. This information usually comes as a leaflet telling someone everything they need to know before they decide whether they would like to take part in a trial.

Information leaflets for trials should be easy for everyone to understand, but often end up long and complex. Because of this, people with low literacy levels in English may choose not to take part because the information is not made easy enough to understand. They might also end up being excluded from taking part in the trial because we need to be sure they fully understand what they are signing up for.

Project aims

Our aim is to work with community groups, patient groups, members of the public and key stakeholders to co-produce an easy-to-read patient information leaflet for use in early and later phase clinical trials.

We will develop a patient information leaflet template that can be adapted and modified, providing a resource that can be used nationally, across different trials.

We hope that our work will benefit those who may have a lower education level, those who do not read written English and those who may have a learning disability or neurodevelopmental disorder.