Kingston Hospital is the first hospital in South West London to recruit a patient into a new national trial to investigate treatments for coronavirus patients.

The RECOVERY trial, run by the University of Oxford, aims to identify treatments that may be beneficial for adults who are hospitalised with confirmed COVID-19.

Currently no treatments for the virus have been approved.

The RECOVERY trail will test treatments, some of which are commonly used for HIV or malaria patients, to see if any of them will turn out to be more effective in helping people recover than the usual standard of hospital care which all patients will receive.

Data from the trial will be regularly reviewed so that any effective treatment can be identified quickly and made available to all patients.

Dr Anna Joseph, a Consultant at Kingston Hospital and one of the Principal Investigators for the RECOVERY trial, said: “In these unprecedented times it is more important than ever that we engage with research to find a way to combat COVID-19. The RECOVERY trial is doing just that. We are excited to be a part of this trial and hope that it will be successful in identifying a treatment.”

Jenny Crooks, Head of Research and Innovation at Kingston Hospital, added: “Being a part of this national clinical trial has only been possible thanks to the collaborative effort of our team. Thank you to Dr Anna Joseph and Dr Siva Mahendran for leading on the trial, and to Annette Nicholson, Clinical Trials pharmacist at Kingston Hospital for coordinating the set up so we could get it open rapidly.”

To find out more about the national trial visit https://www.recoverytrial.net/