Can a 'consent to contact' community help research teams overcome barriers to recruitment? The development and impact of the 'Research for the Future' community.

Over 5000 people have been registered across 3 clinical areas. A range of recruitment strategies have been used, including direct recruitment by clinicians, postal invitations from primary care, and social media. In a 1 year period (2016-2017), the community provided over 1500 participants for a variety of research projects. Feedback from research teams has generally been positive. The 'Research for the Future'consent to contact community has proven feasible and useful for local research teams. Further evaluation is needed to assess the cost-effectiveness of different recruitment strategies, explore patient and researcher experience of its advantages and disadvantages, and explore how the community can be more reflective of the wider population.