The first time I heard about being able to get paid of medical trials was when I had just finished my university degree. I was working as a tour guide for the summer trying to earn enough cash to start paying off my student debts.
A number of my friends and colleagues told me about the huge amounts of money they were making by registering for medical research trials at a nearby clinical research unit. They told me about getting paid thousands of pounds for taking part in these trials. It seemed like an opportunity too good to miss out on.
I obtained the contact details of the research centres from my friends and requested an application form. I wasn't expecting to get a whole pack full of forms back and this was a little off putting at first, until I thought about the money that I could be making. There were questions about my health, the medical history of my family and any allergic reactions that I was known to have had as well as a form to provide my consent for the research doctors to contact my family doctor to obtain my medical history. Whilst this might seem like somewhat of an invasion of privacy it is absolutely necessary to ensure the safety of the volunteers by making sure they don't have any medical conditions that could make it dangerous for them to take part in medical testing.
Having supplied all this information and sent it back in the post I then waited to hear back from them. I actually applied to a couple of different research centres (you can apply to as many as you want) and once they had processed my details I was invited for a comprehensive medical screening at their respective research units.
They carried out tests such as lung capacity, ECG (electro-cardio graph), various blood tests to check liver function, cholesterol levels, etc - all to make sure I was in good health. If nothing else, I was getting the kind of health check up that would have cost a few hundred pounds to get done privately and would be very difficult to get hold of on the NHS.
One of the research units rejected me on the basis that my eye pressure was too high. The other unit didn't even measure this and they accepted me on to their volunteer panel on the basis of my medical results.
After I was told that I had successfully registered as a medical research volunteer I had to wait a while to receive the details of the first trial that they were recruiting for since I had signed up. I received an information pack that included more forms to sign and fill in, details of the drug being researched, side effects that they were expecting, when the trial would take place, when the screening dates where and (most importantly to me, let's be honest about this) the amount of money I would get paid for successfully taking part in the trial.
Even though I had undergone a medical check up to be accepted as a volunteer you still have to go through another one before each trial that you volunteer for. Despite being sent the details of this trial and going for the medical I was subsequently rejected based on my prior medical history. I don't remember whether it was an allergy that I had or an existing medical condition but they decided that something like that meant I couldn't take part. This actually happened to me several times, being sent details of trials, going for a screening then being told the same thing - I couldn't take part because of my medical history. I got very frustrated by this as I felt they were wasting my time sending me details of trials if they knew from my records that they were going to reject me and after this happened a few times I complained.
I don't know exactly what changed but eventually, after going to numerous screenings and being rejected I was finally accepted onto my first trial. I seem to remember it was a little different to a lot of the other trials, they weren't actually testing a drug but it was something to do with a radioactive trace and involved a number of blood tests. It didn't pay as well as a lot of the trials I had been sent details of (only around 500) but it was my first trial and after that I was able to successfully take part in several more over the next few years, earning me several thousand pounds in the process.
Along the lines (having finally been successful with one medical research unit) I reapplied to the other one. The second time around I didn't have any problems with anything and I was accepted there as a volunteer as well. My persistence and stubbornness had paid off.
A number of my friends and colleagues told me about the huge amounts of money they were making by registering for medical research trials at a nearby clinical research unit. They told me about getting paid thousands of pounds for taking part in these trials. It seemed like an opportunity too good to miss out on.
I obtained the contact details of the research centres from my friends and requested an application form. I wasn't expecting to get a whole pack full of forms back and this was a little off putting at first, until I thought about the money that I could be making. There were questions about my health, the medical history of my family and any allergic reactions that I was known to have had as well as a form to provide my consent for the research doctors to contact my family doctor to obtain my medical history. Whilst this might seem like somewhat of an invasion of privacy it is absolutely necessary to ensure the safety of the volunteers by making sure they don't have any medical conditions that could make it dangerous for them to take part in medical testing.
Having supplied all this information and sent it back in the post I then waited to hear back from them. I actually applied to a couple of different research centres (you can apply to as many as you want) and once they had processed my details I was invited for a comprehensive medical screening at their respective research units.
They carried out tests such as lung capacity, ECG (electro-cardio graph), various blood tests to check liver function, cholesterol levels, etc - all to make sure I was in good health. If nothing else, I was getting the kind of health check up that would have cost a few hundred pounds to get done privately and would be very difficult to get hold of on the NHS.
One of the research units rejected me on the basis that my eye pressure was too high. The other unit didn't even measure this and they accepted me on to their volunteer panel on the basis of my medical results.
After I was told that I had successfully registered as a medical research volunteer I had to wait a while to receive the details of the first trial that they were recruiting for since I had signed up. I received an information pack that included more forms to sign and fill in, details of the drug being researched, side effects that they were expecting, when the trial would take place, when the screening dates where and (most importantly to me, let's be honest about this) the amount of money I would get paid for successfully taking part in the trial.
Even though I had undergone a medical check up to be accepted as a volunteer you still have to go through another one before each trial that you volunteer for. Despite being sent the details of this trial and going for the medical I was subsequently rejected based on my prior medical history. I don't remember whether it was an allergy that I had or an existing medical condition but they decided that something like that meant I couldn't take part. This actually happened to me several times, being sent details of trials, going for a screening then being told the same thing - I couldn't take part because of my medical history. I got very frustrated by this as I felt they were wasting my time sending me details of trials if they knew from my records that they were going to reject me and after this happened a few times I complained.
I don't know exactly what changed but eventually, after going to numerous screenings and being rejected I was finally accepted onto my first trial. I seem to remember it was a little different to a lot of the other trials, they weren't actually testing a drug but it was something to do with a radioactive trace and involved a number of blood tests. It didn't pay as well as a lot of the trials I had been sent details of (only around 500) but it was my first trial and after that I was able to successfully take part in several more over the next few years, earning me several thousand pounds in the process.
Along the lines (having finally been successful with one medical research unit) I reapplied to the other one. The second time around I didn't have any problems with anything and I was accepted there as a volunteer as well. My persistence and stubbornness had paid off.
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