We live in an age where the work of all kinds of service-based agents has been eroded by the rise of self-service activities. I often book my own travel rather than using a travel agent. Some people research places to live without contacting a real estate agent.

One area that I’m thinking about, though, is job recruitment agencies. Sure, there are plenty of job boards around, but recruitment agents can still provide a valuable service to those who are looking for specific types of roles within specific industries.

Which makes me wonder if there’s room for such a service-led agency arrangement in the world of patient recruitment – where an agent matches suitable patients to relevant trials.

Certainly there are not millions of people queuing up to take part in trials, but the process of finding one can seem quite daunting, so perhaps that kind of helping hand could prove effective.