In Conversation With Helen Jones, Director of Clinical Staffing at EMS Healthcare

Having the right clinical workforce in place is fundamental to delivering studies consistently, particularly when programmes span multiple locations. At EMS Healthcare, Helen Jones, Director of Clinical Staffing, brings experience across specialist nursing, complex care, clinical research and operational leadership to the challenge of building and supporting clinical teams.

Helen's role involves understanding the requirements of each programme, planning the workforce needed to deliver it, and ensuring clinical staff have the training, communication and support to successfully complete their roles.

Helen's experience includes supporting the clinical workforce behind the NHS-Galleri trial, which recruited more than 140,000 participants through 11 community-based research sites across England. She was also a co-author of the first peer-reviewed results, published in The New England Journal of Medicine and Nature Medicine.

We spoke to Helen about her career, the realities of clinical workforce planning and what her experience has taught her about delivering research across different settings.

Your career has spanned specialist nursing, complex care, clinical research and clinical staffing. How has that shaped your approach to building effective teams?

I've worked across quite a few different areas of healthcare, from cardiothoracic HDU and specialist cardiac nursing through to complex care, clinical staffing and research. Consistently, bringing the right people together is critical. Clinical teams need the right skills and experience, but they also need to feel supported and understand the role they play in the wider service. Particularly in research, you're asking teams to work within very specific protocols and processes while still providing a positive experience for every participant.

My clinical background helps me understand what teams need in practice. It's very different recruiting someone into a role when you've worked in those environments yourself. You understand the pressures, the pace and the importance of having people around you who can adapt.

Every day at EMS Healthcare we're delivering research across multiple communities, for different studies and at significant scale. That means building teams that can maintain consistency and quality while adapting to the needs of each programme.

What are the biggest considerations when building a clinical workforce for a research programme?

The speed and scale was certainly one of the biggest challenges with NHS-Galleri. We were supporting 11 community-based research sites across England, with more than 120 clinical staff required to deliver the programme. At the same time, we were committed to the retention of over 142,000 participants across the 3-year study. I am extremely proud that we achieved >92% retention rate, with 99.4% of participants rating their experience ‘Good’ or ‘Excellent’. This incredible retention and feedback is a testiment to the teams we had in communities across the UK.

For me, making sure the clinical workforce understands the purpose of the study and the role they play in its success, is a high priority. Every appointment is part of a bigger picture, and that sense of purpose matters across all our trials and research programmes. It also needs to be reflected in how we plan our workforce, ensuring we have the right people with the right skills and experience, and that they are properly supported throughout delivery.

How do you support consistent clinical standards across programmes operating in multiple locations?

Consistency is essential, regardless of the size of the programme. When you're delivering research across multiple locations, you need clear processes, strong communication and the right support around your clinical teams.

The scale may vary, but the principles remain the same. Everyone needs to understand the study protocols, clinical standards and expectations, while having the support to manage the practical realities of their individual setting.

Training is a big part of that, but so is ongoing communication. Clinical teams need to know who they can go to, where to find the information they need and that ongoing support is available.

I think that's where having a dedicated clinical staffing function adds real value. It's about looking beyond filling individual roles and considering how the workforce operates as a whole, how teams are supported across different locations and how quality is maintained throughout the programme.

Whether a study involves a large national network or a smaller number of sites across different regions, you need confidence that your clinical teams are equipped to deliver to the same standards, wherever the research takes place.

How does delivering research in community settings influence the way clinical teams work?

Community-based research brings its own considerations because you're delivering studies in a range of settings, each serving different populations with different needs. During NHS-Galleri, our community research sites specifically included areas with high levels of socioeconomic deprivation and locations selected to support participation from more ethnically diverse populations. Our aim is to always make research more accessible and reach people who might otherwise face barriers to taking part.

For clinical teams, that means understanding the local environment and adapting how they engage with participants, while maintaining the same clinical standards and study protocols. Whether we're delivering a large national programme or a study across a smaller number of community locations, that balance between consistency and flexibility is important.

I think it also highlights why infrastructure and workforce need to be considered together. Having the right locations creates the opportunity to reach different communities, but you need experienced clinical teams who understand the study requirements and can deliver a high-quality, participant-focused service in those settings.

Ultimately, community-based research is about more than where an appointment takes place. It's about making participation more accessible while ensuring the quality of delivery and the participant experience remain consistent, wherever the research happens.

How does your clinical background influence the way you approach your role today?

I think it gives me a very practical perspective. I've been on the clinical side, so I understand what it feels like to be responsible for patients and to work within a busy healthcare environment. I've also worked in commercial and operational roles, so I've seen the importance of planning, performance and delivering against objectives.

Now, my role sits somewhere between those worlds.

I'm thinking about how we build the workforce we need, but I'm also thinking about the people within that workforce and the experience we want them to have. If you recruit the right people, support them properly and give them the environment to do their job well, that ultimately benefits participants and the studies we're delivering.

That balance is important. Clinical requirements and operational objectives need to work together, with the workforce given the support to deliver safely, consistently and effectively.

You were a co-author of the first peer-reviewed results from the NHS-Galleri trial, published in The New England Journal of Medicine and Nature Medicine. What did that recognition mean to you?

It's incredibly rewarding, and I feel very honoured to be listed as an author on both papers alongside the incredible people who contributed to this first-of-its-kind trial.

When you're focused on delivering a programme at this scale, you're thinking about the next participant, the next appointment and making sure the teams have everything they need to deliver safely and consistently. The publications give us a chance to step back and recognise the contribution behind that delivery.

I'm particularly pleased to see the clinical teams recognised, the hard work of our clinical staff who supported the trial through the EMS Healthcare sites, alongside the NHS teams, researchers and operational colleagues who made the programme possible.

Above all, I want to thank everyone who volunteered to take part. Their time and trust made this research possible, and it's a real privilege to have played a part in it.

Cancer research continues, and thanks to trials like NHS-Galleri, we have more evidence, more insight and more information to build on. Being part of that, alongside such a dedicated group of people, is something I'm incredibly proud of.

Connect with Helen on LinkedIn and stay up to date with the latest from EMS Healthcare.