Prof. Stephen Stansfeld is Professor of Psychiatry at QMUL. His research involves longitudinal studies of risk and protective factors for mental health in adolescence, life course studies of social and environmental risk factors and intervention studies on work and mental health. He is Co-Principal Investigator of ORiEL Study, a NIHR-funded cluster randomised trial of the impact of the regeneration surrounding the Olympics on children’s wellbeing and physical activity.
Author: Joshua Olins
Andrew Hutchings
Andrew studied management science (operational research) at Lancaster University. He has worked in industry and spent five years at the Audit Commission. He joined the Department of Health Services Research and Policy at LSHTM after completing a MSc in Medical Statistics. His main research interests are in the area of health care quality improvement, service delivery and organisational research. Recent research has included work examing the routine use of patient reported outcomes measures (PROMs) in elective surgery and TABUL, a NIHR HTA-funded study comparing the performance of ultrasonography and temporal artery biopsy for diagnosing giant cell arteritis.
Pinkie Chambers
Pinkie Chambers is a senior pharmacist with over 10 years experience within both UCLH and The London Cancer network. Her ultimate vision is to improve patient experience and outcomes for those receiving chemotherapy, through applied health research. Pinkie has used her patient facing role to guide and prioritise research projects, collaborating with universities and industry. The resultant effect of the research has been changes in guidelines and pathways both locally and internationally.
Her HEE NCEL/CLAHRC Fellowship project was to re- design the current chemotherapy pathway to reduce the overall side effects of chemotherapy treatment. Pinkie spent her fellowship year developing a PhD project to explore one element of the novel pathway, and was successful in securing a prestigious NIHR Doctoral Research Fellowship award to fully fund her PhD.
Pinkie is Joint Chair of the London Cancer Chemotherapy Expert Reference Group which aims to develop chemotherapy services and re-shape the chemotherapy pathway.
Read Pinkie’s reflections on her year with us and the challenge of juggling clinical and research commitments
iQUASER workshop for NHS Trust Boards
Helping NHS Trusts develop their quality strategies
Quality and quality improvement are now recognised as imperative for all NHS organisations in England. A recent workshop brought together leaders of six NHS Trusts to develop their organisation-wide quality improvement strategies.
QUASER (Quality and Safety in European Union Hospitals) is a research-based tool senior hospital leadership teams can use to identify the strengths and possible weaknesses in their organisation’s quality and safety improvement efforts, and what they need to do to improve. The QUASER Guide was the result of a three year project in 5 European countries which studied organisational and cultural factors influencing quality improvement (QI). The intervention provides suggested strategies for how Trusts could be organised better in order to deliver high quality and safe services.
Implementing QUASER in the UK
The QUASER intervention is being implemented in the UK by one of NIHR CLAHRC North Thames’ industry partners, the Foresight Centre for Governance within GE Healthcare Finnamore. Foresight works with public services to develop and improve leadership and Board-level effectiveness. It is helping Boards in six NHS Trusts develop their organisation-wide QI strategies through QUASER.
Evaluating the intervention
In parallel to this work the CLAHRC is conducting an evaluation of this intervention to assess and understand its impact within the six Trusts taking part. As one of the projects under our Innovations in systems and models of health and health care research theme researchers will use quantitative and qualitative methods to examine the total costs & benefits of the different interventions.
The iQUASER Workshop
A workshop in early November was run by the Foresight Centre and offered the chance for the six participating Trust Boards to develop their organisation-wide quality improvement strategies. The one-day workshop brought together all participating NHS trusts. 23 board level executives and non-executives came together with the overriding aim to develop a collective understanding of the QUASER Guide, learn about the evidence which underpins it and develop a clear sense of the elements of an effective quality improvement strategy.
Prior to the event, senior leaders from the Trusts received analysis of their current QI strategic position, having completed the QUASER guide self-assessment tool. Trusts were able to review, reflect and discuss their results both in terms of areas of strength and those that may require further focus.
In the afternoon the board level executives convened to participate in the first of three ‘action learning sets’ aimed at creating a supportive environment for participating organisations to draw on their collective experience and wisdom of those present.
Next steps – By the close of the day the participants arrived at specific goals or commitments to take their quality improvement strategies and interventions forward. The group will reconvene for the second of three action learning sets in January.
Background to the iQUASER project – the quality improvement agenda in the NHS
The Francis Report reinforced the need for effective quality improvement strategies within NHS Trusts. All NHS organisation in England are being mandated to provide care that is clinically effective, safe and provides as positive an experience for patients as possible. Successful improvement programmes are vital for achieving this so this programme is particularly timely.
For more information about the QUASER project and the Guide see: The QUASER project
Dr Mariana Pinto Da Costa
Dr Mariana Pinto Da Costa is a Portuguese psychiatrist. She is a Doctoral research fellow at the Unit for Social and Community Psychiatry (WHO Collaborating Centre for Mental Health Services Development and NIHR Global Health Group) at Queen Mary University of London, and a Lecturer at the Biomedical Sciences Abel Salazar Institute at the University of Porto.
In her current research, she has been exploring social relationships between people with psychosis and volunteers, through different formats (face-to-face and digitally), collecting views of different stakeholders (mental health professionals, volunteers and patients) in 3 European countries.
She is enthusiastic about making the most of technology to connect people and has developed a new intervention using smartphones – the Phone Pal study (ISRCTN 17586238), of which she is the Chief Investigator.
Steven Towndrow
Steven Towndrow is a patient and public involvement specialist with extensive experience across the voluntary and health sectors. His career has focused on capturing and actioning the views of service users from across health and social care, and facilitating partnerships between the public and professionals. Steven has worked with professional associations, regulators, charities and the NHS – his past roles have included being part of the patient experience team at a major London NHS Trust and engagement lead for Westminster Local Involvement Network. From 2013 onwards Steven has been patient and public involvement lead for NIHR Collaboration for Leadership in Applied Health Research and Care (CLAHRC) North Thames, hosted by Barts Health NHS Trust.
News 3
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New funding success
Professor Lakhanpaul (pictured above third from left) is one of three international collaborations based at UCL to receive Global Challenges Research Fund (GCRF) awards, in recognition of research partnerships improving health in low and middle income countries.
Professor Lakhanpaul is Deputy Lead for our Child Health research theme, and leads our NEON study – a participatory female health volunteer led intervention to promote healthy nutrition in children of Bangladeshi origin in East London.
The Professor specialises in integrated community child health and is an international expert in the creation and implementation of guidelines in healthcare, with a track-record of co-production with communities to develop tailored health interventions. She combines this with work as practising consultant community paediatrician at Whittington Health.
The innovative partnerships arising from the GCRF awards will focus on optimising infant feeding practices in rural India, using technology to support HIV prevention in South Africa, and shaping future policies for the control of non-communicable diseases around the world.
Professor Lakhanpaul will work with Professor Marie Lall (UCL Institute of Education and Pro-Vice-Provost South Asia) and Dr Priti Parikh (UCL Department of Civil, Environmental & Geomatic Engineering) to develop an integrated health, education and environmental intervention to optimise infant feeding practices through schools and Anganwadi networks in India.
Professor Lakhanpaul said: “We are delighted to be receiving the award to support our research, which builds on the work I have been leading in the UK with the CLAHRC in Tower Hamlets.”
CLAHRC widens access to training by switching learning online
Wednesday, January 11th, 2017
How can training in research methods for front-line NHS and public health staff be made more accessible and convenient? How do you translate a face-to-face course to an online learning resource?
Dr Helen Barratt (Deputy Director of the CLAHRC Academy) shared her experience of taking a successful face-to-face course and transforming it fully online and this work has been featured in a case study by the UCL Life Learning team entitled Translating a face-to-face course online
Our North Thames geography, plus work and time pressures faced by staff on the front line of health and health care meant that not everyone interested in our popular Introduction to Evaluation course could access our regular programme held in Central London.
In the case study Dr Barratt discusses the unique challenges of preparing and delivering online learning using digital platforms and educational tools, and provides handy tips for educators approaching similar work.
report on previous course
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