Clinical Research Assistant / Clinical Research Practitioner

Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust has been rated as Good by the Care Quality Commission (CQC).

We are a responsive and innovative Foundation Trust that places our values of Caring, Safe and Excellent at the heart of everything we do. We take great pride in our staff and believe that investing in you is key to us achieving our vision of outstanding care delivered by outstanding people.

We work with a wide range of partner organisations to deliver care and support to people in their own homes and from a number of hospitals and community bases. We focus on delivering care as close to home as possible for people of all ages across Oxfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Swindon, Wiltshire, Bath and North East Somerset.

We actively support anti-racism, equality, diversity, and inclusion so, if you’re excited about this job opportunity and you meet our Trust values, but feel unsure about applying, then please get in touch and we will be happy to have a conversation with you.

We are also committed to increasing diversity in the workforce, that is why we actively encourage applications from those groups of people who are currently under-represented, which include amongst others: people with disabilities; men from all socio-economic backgrounds; people from diverse ethnic backgrounds; and people from the LGBTQIA+ community.

Good luck and we hope to hear from you.

Job overview

The Mental Health Research Delivery Team are delighted to offer the exciting position of Clinical Research Assistant (CRA) in the North and West Oxon Adult Mental Health Team (AMHT) based at the Elms Centre, Banbury.

This is a full time (37.5 hours per week) fixed-term role until 31st March 2026, with the possibility to extend further subject to funding.

The focus of this role is to support the recruitment and delivery of National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) portfolio studies for patients and staff within the North and West Oxon AMHT and across the mental health specialty at Oxford Health.

You'll join a team of CRAs in the Mental Health Research Delivery Team, each of whom are embedded within Mental Health clinical teams across Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust.

If you have a background in clinical research and a passion for improving treatment for mental illnesses, we would love to hear from you!

• Recruit patients and staff within the North and West Oxon AMHT into a broad portfolio of mental health research studies. Clinical Research Assistants work across a range of studies providing support with recruitment, study delivery and set up.
• Support and complete research activities: undertake informed consent, randomisation, treatment allocation, cognitive assessments, and venepuncture as stipulated in the trial protocol.
• Develop strong working relationships with consultants and care coordinators to facilitate collaborative working and enable the identification of eligible service users and staff.

Please refer to the job description attached for a comprehensive list of duties

Working for our organisation

Oxford Health is a great place to work and to be able to showcase the best of yourself when making an application please read the “candidate guide to making an application” and ensure your supporting statement is tailored to the role you are applying for and addresses any essential criteria.

Our vision is that no matter who you are or where you are, you will tell us that you receive: “Outstanding care delivered by an outstanding team”

Our values are: “Caring, safe and excellent”

We offer a wide range of benefits designed to support your career and wellbeing. These include:

• Excellent opportunities for career progression
• Access to tailored individual and Trust wide learning and development
• 27 days annual leave, plus bank holidays, rising to 33 days with continuous service
• NHS Discount across a wide range of shops, restaurants and retailers
• Competitive pension scheme
• Lease car scheme
• Cycle to work scheme
• Employee Assistance Programme
• Mental Health First Aiders
• Staff accommodation (please note waiting lists apply)
• Staff networking and support groups hosted by our Equality, Diversity & Inclusion team

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

We hope that the advert has given you a clear understanding of the skills we are seeking and the opportunity at hand. You will need to use the “supporting statement” element of your application form to demonstrate your suitability for this role and you should refer to the job description, person specification and the guidance notes attached to this role to help you tailor your application.

The essential and desirable criteria will be used to shortlist for interview and you should ensure that you refer to these within your application to increase your chances of being selected for interview.

Person specification

Knowledge Requirements

• Knowledge in the field of mental health
• Knowledge of the research life cycle
• Understanding of the regulations governing research in the UK

• Awareness of relevant obligatory regulations and legal requirements such as the Mental Capacity and Data Protection Act

Qualifications – Academic/Skills/Professional

• Educated to degree level in life sciences field

• Demonstrate evidence of postgraduate training
• Care Certificate
• Clinical Research Practitioner Registration

Further Training or Job Related Aptitude and Skills

• Good time management and organisational skills
• Well-developed IT skills
• Attention to detail and ability to collect accurate data

• Willing to undertake training for clinical competencies e.g. venepuncture

Experience

• Experience of working with people with mental health difficulties within the NHS
• Experience of working in a multi-disciplinary environment

• Previous experience in clinical research

Personal Qualities

• Excellent communication skills, written and oral
• Flexible
• Proven ability to work confidently under limited supervision
• Strong desire and self-motivation to learn and develop

• Interest in developing personal skills in mental health research

Contractual Requirements or other requirements

• Ability to meet the mobility requirements of the post, including travel across OHFT
• Access to a car or alternative means of travel for business use
• Commitment to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, young people and vulnerable adults.
• All new starters have a thorough induction process, both local and Trust wide, which aims to create a positive supportive working environment allowing new employees to learn key elements of their role over a reasonable timescale.
• Appointment to this post is subject to the trust receiving satisfactory references covering 3 years of employment or study. Please ask your referees to respond promptly to reference requests.
• We’re advocates of flexible working and many of our roles offer a range of employment options to help you balance your work and personal life.
• Employees are expected to undertake mandatory and statutory training related to their role.
• We are ambitious in our pursuit of excellence, driven by the belief that a fair, just and fully inclusive organisational culture enables our teams to deliver the best quality of care and services possible and we work hard to ensure that our diverse workforce reflects the communities that we serve.
• We welcome applications from all sections of the community, are an Equal Opportunities employer with a number of internal networking groups to support our employees and where possible will always look to make reasonable adjustments in order that you can fulfil the role to recognise your full potential. All our employees are committed to demonstrating through their behaviour our core values – safe, caring and excellent.
• We are committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and vulnerable adults, we expect all staff and volunteers to share this commitment.
• Oxford is a world-renowned centre of excellence for research. Oxford Health works closely with the University of Oxford department of Psychiatry and the Department of Primary care, has a Biomedical Research Centre dedicated to improving mental health and the NIHR Clinical Research Facility at the Warneford site. The Trust also hosts the NIHR Applied Research Collaboration (ARC) which carries out applied research that directly impacts patient health and wellbeing