More than 350 participants have come forward to take part in a research study being led by a Black Country scientist.

James Pethick is a Principal Clinical Scientist with Black Country Pathology Services (BCPS) which comprises the four pathology laboratories from Walsall Healthcare NHS Trust, The Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust, The Dudley Group NHS Foundation Trust and Sandwell and West Birmingham NHS Trust (SWBH)

He is Principal Investigator on the study: “What are patients’ and Doctors’ perceptions of self-management of primary hypothyroidism and the barriers and facilitators to different types of self-management.”

Primary hypothyroidism affects around four per cent of people in the UK and is more common in women than men. It means patients have an underactive thyroid gland, the small gland found in the neck, which does not produce enough hormones; this can slow many organs in the body.

James, who is based at City Hospital with the Sandwell and West Birmingham NHS Trust, is working with the University of Manchester as part of his professional doctorate qualification on the study. The initial aim was to recruit up to 50 participants, but the response has been huge.

James said: “It has been slightly overwhelming – I had over 350 responses on the online survey.

“I’ve started the focus groups and have spoken to a few people with primary hypothyroidism already and it has been really insightful.

“I’ll probably be doing focus groups until the end of January. I’m looking forward to analysing the content of all the focus groups and finding out what the key issues are, how patients would like these to be addressed and how the laboratory may be able to step up to meet some of these challenges.”