Your first visit to our clinic – what to expect

At our clinic, we welcome new volunteers for clinical studies every day. We understand that applying to take part in a clinical study can be a big decision for many. We wanted to put together a guide to explain the process from start to finish, to help answer some frequently asked questions and also to help put your mind at ease.

Initial Contact – The Pre-screener

The most popular way that participants register to volunteer is via our short pre-screening questionnaire on the website. The purpose of this is to determine if the individual potentially meets the basic criteria for one of our current studies – this asks questions about a persons age, certain current medications and medical conditions.

If you do not meet the required basic criteria, this does not necessarily mean that you cannot reapply for future studies.

If the result of the initial pre-screener indicates you may be suitable to take part in one of our current studies, you will receive a confirmation message on receipt of successfully completing the volunteer application which will indicate that a member of our patient liaison team will contact you by email.

We also welcome individuals to call the clinic directly if they would prefer to register to volunteer over the phone and one of our friendly patient liaison team will be happy to go through our pre-screening questionnaire with you.

Patient Liaison Team

Our dedicated team currently work Monday to Friday and always aim to make contact within 48 hours.

We understand that it may not be possible to speak with you on the first contact and if this is the case, we will send you a text message to let you know it was the Glasgow Memory Clinic trying to contact you and detail our telephone number. We welcome you to return the call at a more convenient time, or we will continue to try and contact you again over the coming days. We appreciate you have taken the time to apply to volunteer and our aim is to ensure the process from initial application to offering you a potential appointment as swift and easy as possible.

Suitability

Before making an appointment to attend the clinic, a member of the team will confirm your contact details and ask you an additional set of questions, to establish more clearly any medications you may be taking and your medical history. This is essential to ensure you meet the inclusion criteria of at least one of our current studies. From this information our team will be able to confirm if you are suitable to progress to an appointment at the clinic. You will be offered the first available date and time, providing your diary permits we typically see participants within 7 days of applying.

Appointment

Once your appointment time is agreed, you will receive an appointment confirmation by email (or post on request), together with any relevant study information – this is dependent on the individual applicant.

We will also give you a courtesy reminder call 5 days before your appointment and a reminder text the day beforehand. This to ensure that, should you require to cancel your appointment or reschedule, we can offer the space to another volunteer.

Arriving at the clinic

Located at Eurocentral, our world class facility offers an excellent central belt location, just off the M8 between Glasgow and Edinburgh. Whether you are travelling by car or public transport to the clinic, we will reimburse your travel expenses. This is something which will be covered at the appointment stage with our patient liaison team.

Parking is Fully accessible and free

We have ample visitor parking at the clinic entrance for ease of access and the clinic is located on the ground floor. There is further free parking to the rear of Excel House.

When you arrive at the clinic, you will be greeted by our friendly reception team who will confirm your appointment and invite you to take a seat in our spacious patient lounge.

If you are planning your first visit to our clinic, full details of where we are located can be found here.

Complimentary Refreshments

Attendees of the clinic can relax in our patient lounge which offers free WiFi. We also have a large screen television that you can watch whilst enjoying complimentary tea, coffee, juice, fruit, sandwiches and snacks from our café.

Consultation – suitability for a current study

At your appointment time a member of our clinical team will guide you from the patient lounge (and your study partner – if applicable) to an assessment room. This consultation will allow a member of our clinical team to assess your individual circumstances and ask further questions to ascertain if you are suitable to be screened. If you are suitable to be screened and happy to proceed, this will be done on the same day.

We run a number of studies and the suitability and qualification process for each is different.

A typical appointment can last anywhere between 30 minutes and a few hours, and you are welcome to enjoy complimentary refreshments throughout your visit.
In addition to travel expenses, we also offer a £50 stipend payment to those volunteers who are screened as a ‘thank you for your time’.
Any follow up visits and the frequency of those will be covered at this time.

Reimbursement of travel expenses

As agreed at the appointment stage, Glasgow Memory Clinic will reasonably reimburse travel expenses of attendees to the clinic. Before leaving the clinic please visit reception and this, together with any applicable stipend payment will be made.

Volunteer feedback

Often after an initial visit, we receive lovely feedback around the friendliness of our team and how bright and inviting our clinic is.

If you are reading this with a view to registering to volunteer and have any further questions, please do not hesitate to contact us by telephone on 0141 948 0206 or email.

We look forward to welcoming you to our clinic soon.