Patient recruitment for clinical trials is expensive and has been a significant challenge, with many trials not achieving their recruit- ment goals. One method that shows promise for improving recruitment is the use of interactive prompts that inform practitioners of patient el- igibility for clinical trials during consultation. This paper presents the ePCRN-IDEA recruitment system, which utilises an agent-based infras- tructure to enable real-time recruitment of patients. In essence, whenever patients enter a clinic, the system compares their details against eligi- bility criteria, which define the requirements of active clinical trials. If a patient is found to be eligible, a prompt is raised to notify the user. In this way, it becomes possible for recruitment to take place quickly in a cost effective manner, whilst maintaining patient trust through the involvement of their own health care practitioner.