Tarquin Scadding-Hunt , CEO of mdgroup , on the 5 steps needed to improve diversity in clinical trials .

Work with grassroots organisations Big pharmaceutical companies and their partners must engage with small , local organisations that often have the trust of the communities they serve and innovative ways to reach them .

Embrace digital health opportunities Communities in rural locations with typically low incomes are less likely to enrol in clinical trials because they do not have the time or the means to travel to a research site . Home visits and gathering data through wearable devices reduces these burdens .

Representation throughout the research process We must continue to look at how we recruit researchers and healthcare professionals to ensure we are finding the best candidates from diverse populations .

Collect data on ethnicity We need to make sure all clinical trials are collecting data on ethnicity , without it we cannot see progress or whether a treatment works for everyone .

Use a wider range of sites for clinical trials Large academic institutions will always have a place but we also need to find smaller sites .

� 3D SYSTEMS 3D Systems and United Therapeutics have partnered to create two new 3D-printed human organs , bringing them closer to achieving their goal of being able to produce an unlimited supply of human organs to meet the needs of millions of patients requiring transplants worldwide .

� DIGITAL HEALTH COOPERATIVE RESEARCH CENTRE The Australian government is funding the Digital Health Cooperative Research Centre , which has launched a project that aims to improve clinical decision support tools in hospitals across the country .

� US HOSPITALS 47 % of hospitals in the US have been issued fines by Medicare for having high readmission rates . The average fine is a 0.64 % reduction in payment for each Medicare patient .

� TEST AND TRACE England ’ s Test and Trace system has been branded a failure by a cross-party committee of ministers , claiming it “ has not achieved its main objective to help break chains of Covid-19 transmission .” The system is run by private company Serco and has cost £ 37bn to date .

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