A Norfolk hospital has now supported 15 patients onto a national trial aimed at identifying treatments for coronavirus.

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The James Paget University Hospital has become the third Norfolk hospital to support the RECOVERY trial led by researchers in Oxford.

After the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in King’s Lynn and the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital announced last week that they were supporting the trial, the Research and Development department at the Gorleston hospital said they were “very proud” to be offering patients and families “hope and opportunities at such difficult times.”

RECOVERY is one of a growing number of trials being set up with the support of the National Institute for Health Research to help find treatments for COVID-19.

Those on the trial will test several medications from other conditions showing promise of helping patients with the new strain of coronavirus in other countries.

The RECOVERY trial will look at treating patients with hydroxychloroquine, a malaria drug, or lopinavir/ritonavir, which is normally used to treat HIV, or the steroid dexamethasone, which is used in a wide range of conditions to reduce inflammation.

The research study is open to all adults who are hospitalised with confirmed COVID-19.

Most people infected with the COVID-19 virus will experience mild to moderate respiratory illness.

However, older people, and those with underlying medical conditions are more likely to develop serious illness as a result of the virus, which has no specific vaccines or treatments.

With the RECOVERY trial established in March, the Research and Development Department at The James Paget University Hospital NHS Foundation Trust were “up and running” last month.

They Tweeted: “So proud to be offering hope and opportunities to our patients and families at such difficult times.”

In further Twitter posts, a spokesman added: “We are very proud to be one of the earliest recruiting sites for the RECOVERY trial.

“Offering our patients research opportunities for #covid19 is so incredibly important.

“15 patients have taken/are taking part in the #RECOVERY #covid19 trial in under a week.

“So proud of all our staff, patients and relatives.”

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