The delay is no longer in study approvals. It's in
site setup and effective recruitment.
The MHRA standard is in force, and approvals now average 41 days. What's measured is the rest: open the site in 60 days, recruit the first patient in 30. Most sites miss — 40–50% recruit only one or two participants per study — and sponsors now place their studies with the sites that can prove they start fast.
Your next figures are accumulating now, on studies already in set-up — and evidence can't be backfilled. Sponsors, and the 21 NIHR Commercial Research Delivery Centres competing for their studies, now pick sites on one question: can you prove you start fast?
Imagine the other version: documents filed and greenlit as work happens, staff trained and evidenced before day one, consented volunteers re-engaged from your own database instead of a cold start — and when a sponsor asks, the answer is a record, not a promise.
AQ has already proven what's possible across six years of NHS research.
Support for every stage of NHS study set-up.
The two legs you're measured on — and the delivery that keeps you inspection-ready long after. Each one runs on the same connected record, so nothing is rebuilt before an audit.
Activate a site in less than 60 days
Site documents filed and greenlit in the eISF; roles trained and evidenced in the QMS; PI and delegation e-signed with Digital DoA. No hand-reconciled trackers, no week-before-inspection rebuild — the record is ready because it was built ready.
First patient in 30 days
Recruit from your own consented volunteer database instead of a cold start — volunteers come back. CTMS runs participant management, the e-planner and scheduling against real clinic capacity, and automated reminders keep participants attending — so the schedule you promise a sponsor is one you can keep.
"AscensionQ has made booking research trial participants straightforward and efficient for our busy clinic. The reminder setup and mobile app improved appointment compliance across all of our studies."
Keep delivering after day 90
Visits and milestones tracked in the CTMS; a deviation opens a CAPA in the QMS on the same record; 3,665 adverse reactions recorded and tracked; ePSF keeps IMP accountability current — the pharmacy gap where inspections get uncomfortable and most platforms stop; and filing completeness rolls up into the eTMF, ready for the sponsor and the inspector.
However your research is organised, AQ fits the way you already work.
A single NHS site or R&D unit
Your team is flat out and records are scattered. AQ replaces hand-reconciled trackers with one attributable record — less inspection prep, less governance load.
Proven at Liverpool University HospitalA CRDC or multi-site network
Judged as one network, but every site works differently. AQ puts them on one record — shared workflows, network-wide oversight, the evidence sponsors ask for.
Proven across 13 sites · 70 studiesA study juggling separate systems
QMS, CAPA, CTMS, eISF and folders as separate tools are an admin burden — and the real trial position slips. AQ connects every module on one record.
Proven across CRDC networks · 16 sitesTurn EDGE, your site file and your spreadsheets into one trusted operational record.
Research teams shouldn't have to reconcile multiple systems before every inspection, sponsor feasibility assessment, or performance review. AQ keeps operational information aligned across EDGE and your existing research systems, creating one trusted record for every study.
several subscriptions
no manual trackers
preparing for inspections
no heavy rollout
live in weeks
Assisted by AI. Controlled by your team.
It reads each upload and understands it in the context of the whole connected record.
Sorts and files to the right place, suggests placeholders, and drafts routine work — like a training quiz from an SOP.
AQ proposes; a person reviews and confirms. It never closes records or signs on anyone’s behalf.
Each AI action and your decision recorded on the same attributable record.