Category: News and Events

Free award-winning workshops for clinical academic researchers on patient and public involvement in research

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Our partners at the NIHR University College London Hospitals Biomedical Research Centre (BRC) are offering a series of free workshops for researchers who want to develop skills in patient and public involvement (PPI) in research.

The workshops, supported by the Wellcome Trust and open to researchers working in UCLPartners partnership organisations, are practical and the aim is to build up researchers’ skills in effectively involving lay people in the research process, from setting research priorities to designing protocols.

Workshops

Beginners only

  • Introduction to PPI – Get started with the theory of PPI and lots of practical ideas. Read more
  • How to fill in the PPI section of a grant form – What do funders expect when they ask you about PPI? How can you use this to make your research better? Read more

Beginners and experienced

  • Finders keepers? – How to access and sustain patients and the public for involvement in research. Read more.
  • Facilitation skills for PPI – For researchers who want to run one-off discussions with groups of patients and the public. Read more

Experienced only

  • Meaningful PPI? How was it for you? – Your opportunity to reflect on what you’ve done so far, celebrate what has gone well and plan to address some of the challenges. Read more

Schedule

Tuesday 25 September

14.00–16.00: Intro to PPI: what can PPI do for you

This session is for anyone new to PPI. Learn what patient and public involvement is all about, and how it can help your research. Pick up some of the basics of incorporating patient involvement into your work.

Friday 28 September

9.30–11.30: Getting stuck into PPI: focus groups and more

This session is for anyone who understand the role of PPI, and wants to put their learning into practice. The session examines PPI methods in more depth, with looking particularly at how to run a PPI focus group.

Tuesday 9 October

13.00: How to fill in the PPI section of grant form

This session is for anyone struggling to work PPI into their funding applications. Learn what funders are looking for, and at what stage of applying for funding you should be seeking patient input.

14.00–16.00: Facilitation: how to get the most our of your PPI activities

This session is for anyone looking to run workshops of focus groups. Learn how to get the most out of your meetings.

Monday 12 November

11.00–13.00: How to find patient partners, and keep them involved

This session is for anyone looking to involve patients in their research. Learn where to go to find people who will get involved, and how to help them remain engaged.

Thursday 13 November

12.00–14.00: Building relationships: how to work with patients and the public

This session is for people who are ready to run PPI activities. Learn how to work sensitively with patients and the wider public, including language barriers and making PPI accessible

14.30–16.30: Intro to PPI: what can PPI do for you?

This session is for anyone new to PPI. Learn what patient and public involvement is all about, and how it can help your research. Pick up some of the basics of incorporating patient involvement into your work.

Booking

 To book a place please see the schedule below and contact the PPI Helpdesk ppihelpdesk@ucl.ac.uk stating:

  • name of workshop
  • date of workshop
  • your name
  • job title and organisation

A maximum of two courses can be booked per person. There is no charge for attending a course, however ULCH BRC  reserve the right to charge a £50 non-attendance fee if you fail to inform them 24 hours before the workshop that you won’t be attending.

Due to the limited spaces available for our PPI workshops, there will be an attendance fee for staff not based at UCL or one of our UCLPartners organisations.

NIHR CLAHRC Career Development Conference

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Developing your career in applied health and care research – challenges and opportunities


Thursday 4 October 2018 from 09.00 to 17.00
Senate House, University of London, Malet Street, Bloomsbury, London WC1E 7HU
http://www.profbriefings.co.uk/nihrclahrc2018/index.html

Early career researchers (ECRs) face many challenges as they set out on their journey into health and social care research, and must prepare to face an increasingly competitive academic environment in which to pursue their interests and passions.


As part of their programme of support the three London CLAHRCs (Northwest London, North Thames and South London) have come together to deliver a career development conference for early career researchers across the whole CLAHRC community on 4th October at Senate House London.

The one-day conference, delivered in conjunction with the NIHR Trainees Coordinating Centre, will be a mix of plenary sessions, skills workshops, delegate presentations and careers clinics. It’s a great opportunity for ECRs to connect and learn about further career development.

As well as senior researchers from across the capital we’re delighted to welcome key note speakers Dr Louise Wood, Director of Science, Research & Evidence at the Department of Health and Social Care (below left) and Professor Dave Jones, NIHR Dean of Faculty Trainees. Both will share knowledge and guidance arising from their roles in creating the next generation of health researchers

It’s a timely gathering, with the launch of the NIHR Academy set for late October 2018 (following a strategic review of training within NIHR) and the arrival of the successor to CLAHRCs, Applied Research Collaborations, or ARCs in 2019.

Places will be allocated on a first come first served basis so early registration is advised.

Registration for the event is now open at http://www.profbriefings.co.uk/nihrclahrc2018/index.html

Becoming Research Active: 14th November 2018; 9am-5pm

Posted on by CLAHRC

Are you a nurse, allied health professional, public health or local government member of staff who is interested in research or who has had some exposure to research? Our workshop is suitable for staff from NHS Trusts, NHS CCGs, and Local Authorities who are keen to become involved in research.

Engaging in research is a great way to address the questions that often arise in health care.  It can also play a vital role in producing new evidence and new knowlegde for decision-making to improve health care.

This one day, practical workshop provides an introduction to the research process to enable NHS and local government staff to engage in research activity.  The course is run by the CLAHRC North Thames Academy, together with the Research Design Service London (east London arm) and Clinical Research Network North Thames.

This introductory level course is a first step on the journey towards becoming “research active”, either by developing your own small project or getting involved in other ways e.g. collaborating on research studies, assisting clients / patients in your care to take part in research, being a (critical) research ‘consumer’ or helping to shape research priorities, design and delivery.  We ask that participants attend the workshop with a research idea, innovation, or change that they would like to plan for, or collaborate on with researchers.

By the end of the course participants will:

  • Understand the research process, including the principles behind good research design and planning for dissemination and impact
  • Understand the different roles within a research team and identify the points at which you can become involved
  • Be able to apply criteria to judge the potential value and feasibility of a research project idea
  • Have a basic understanding of research governance and ethics requirements, and know where to find out more
  • Know how to involve patients and the public in every stage of research, and understand how it could benefit the research
  • Know how to access relevant resources or the help available across North Thames to design, plan and fund research

This workshop is not aimed at academics and/or researchers.

*e.g. you might have done a Masters level module in collecting and analysing data, or critical appraisal of research, or have helped to support research in your organisation or attended another one of our Academy courses.

All participants will receive a certificate of attendance.

Cost – This course is free for staff working in NIHR CLAHRC North Thames partner organisations (a list of our partners is available on our website). There is a delegate fee of £250 for other attendees.

Venue – Central London

Registration – Please complete the registration form and email to clahrc.academy@ucl.ac.uk by 5pm, Wednesday 5th September 2018.

Please note,a cancellation fee of £100 will be charged to both partner and non-partner delegates in the event of non-attendance without notic after 5pm on 7th November 2018.

For more information please contact clahrc.academy@ucl.ac.uk


Becoming Research Active: 14th November 2018; 9am-5pm

Posted on by CLAHRC

Are you a nurse, allied health professional, public health or local government member of staff who is interested in research or who has had some exposure to research?  Our workshop is suitable for staff from NHS Trusts, NHS CCGs, and Local Authorities who are keen to become involved in research.

Engaging in research is a great way to address the questions that often arise in health care.  It can also play a vital role in producing new evidence and new knowlegde for decision-making to improve health care.

This one day, practical workshop provides an introduction to the research process to enable NHS and local government staff to engage in research activity.  The course is run by the CLAHRC North Thames Academy, together with the Research Design Service London (east London arm) and Clinical Research Network North Thames.

This introductory level course is a first step on the journey towards becoming “research active”, either by developing your own small project or getting involved in other ways e.g. collaborating on research studies, assisting clients / patients in your care to take part in research, being a (critical) research ‘consumer’ or helping to shape research priorities, design and delivery.  We ask that participants attend the workshop with a research idea, innovation, or change that they would like to plan for, or collaborate on with researchers.

By the end of the course participants will:

  • Understand the research process, including the principles behind good research design and planning for dissemination and impact
  • Understand the different roles within a research team and identify the points at which you can become involved
  • Be able to apply criteria to judge the potential value and feasibility of a research project idea
  • Have a basic understanding of research governance and ethics requirements, and know where to find out more
  • Know how to involve patients and the public in every stage of research, and understand how it could benefit the research
  • Know how to access relevant resources or the help available across North Thames to design, plan and fund research

This workshop is not aimed at academics and/or researchers.

*e.g. you might have done a Masters level module in collecting and analysing data, or critical appraisal of research, or have helped to support research in your organisation or attended another one of our Academy courses.

All participants will receive a certificate of attendance.

Cost – This course is free for staff working in NIHR CLAHRC North Thames partner organisations (a list of our partners is available on our website). There is a delegate fee of £250 for other attendees.

Venue – Central London

Registration – Please complete the registration form and email to clahrc.academy@ucl.ac.uk by 5pm, Wednesday 5th September 2018.

Please note, a cancellation fee of £100 will be charged to both partner and non-partner delegates in the event of non-attendance without notic after 5pm on 7th November 2018. 

For more information please contact clahrc.academy@ucl.ac.uk


Success for CLAHRC researcher Meredith Hawking

Posted on by CLAHRC

Congratulations were in order for CLAHRC researcher Meredith Hawking after her poster won a prize at the 2018 Annual Scientific Meeting of the Society for Academic Primary Care at the Barbican Centre, London.

Meredith with her winning poster

The prestigious SAPC event brings together researchers and educators from the primary care community in the UK and around the world to showcase their latest studies.

Meredith is based at Queen Mary University of London and her PhD focuses on Investigating patients’ perspectives and adherence to anticoagulants for atrial fibrillation.

Atrial fibrillation is a heart condition affecting a million people in the UK that causes an irregular and often abnormally fast heart rate. AF is associated with 1 in 8 strokes (1 in 3 over 80 years). More than half these strokes could be averted by oral anticoagulants (OAC), but the proportion of patients receiving oral anticoagulants has improved by only 1.5% per year over the last 25 years and was only 50% in 2012.

Meredith’s poster- entitled Adherence to direct oral anticoagulants for non-valvular atrial fibrillation in real world settings: a systematic review and meta-analysis – outlines her work to explore how widespread nonadherenece to anticoagulants is.

Professor Rosalind Raine on her research inspiration Sir Michael Marmot

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As part of a series of blogs from prominent members of the research community CLAHRC Director Professor Rosalind Raine pays tribute to Michael Marmot, who has consistently and eloquently pointed out the unequal distribution of the social determinants of health.

Professor Raine’s piece in the British Medical Journal, the last of a series of”research legends” blogs highlights the ongoing relevance of Marmot’s work in light of the widening health gap between the socially advantaged and disadvantaged.

Describing Professor Marmot as an “iconic figure” Rosalind highlights his drive to keep health inequalities high on the policy agenda, and his impact on the NHS, in particular the 2010 Marmot review examining health inequalities in England.

Rosalind Raine on Michael Marmot: A career devoted to tackling social injustice and health

New guidance to support decisions about introducing or spreading innovations in the NHS

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What is the role of evidence in decisions about introducing or spreading innovations in health care?

Faced with a myriad range of innovations – in technology, medicine, ways of working and in organising services what do those who plan and commission services have to call on? 

We know that a range of evidence informs healthcare decision-making, from formal research findings to ‘soft intelligence’ or local data, as well as practical experience or tacit knowledge. However, cultural and organisational factors often prevent the translation of such evidence into practice.

New guidance from the“DEcisions in health Care to Introduce or Diffuse innovations using Evidence” (DECIDE) study has been published to support decision-makers and evaluators in the use of evidence in their work.

A team funded by the Health Foundation and led by researchers at the University of Manchester and University College London has investigated decision-makers’ use of diverse forms of evidence, exploring how and why some evidence does inform decisions to introduce health care innovations, and why barriers persist in other cases. The guidance was developed in consultation with clinicians, health managers, commissioners, patient representatives, and researchers.

The guidance is the end point of two years work involving a review of current evidence; examination of three case studies of real world decision-making on innovations in NHS acute and primary care; and a national survey and discrete choice experiment of decision-makers’ preferences for evidence, including providers and commissioners.

 

The accessible document – available as an interactive PDF, is aimed at anyone concerned with informing or making decisions about introducing or spreading innovations within the UK National Health Service, including providers and commissioners of care. It provides a summary the team’s findings, questions for decision-makers to consider, and potential ways of addressing them using examples from case studies. The document also sign-post users of this guidance to further resources where appropriate.

 

 

 

 

 

Read more from the DECIDE team below –

Turner S. (2018) ‘Accelerating innovation in new ways of delivering health and social care’, Manchester Policy Blog, published 28 March 2018.

Turner S, D’Lima D, Hudson E, Morris S, Sheringham J, Swart N, Fulop N. (2017) ‘Evidence use in decision-making on introducing innovations: a systematic scoping review with stakeholder feedback’, Implementation Science 12:145. View bite-size summary.

Turner S, Morris S, Sheringham J, Hudson E, fulop NJ. (2016) ‘Study protocol: DEcisions in health Care to Introduce or Diffuse innovations using Evidence (DECIDE)’, Implementation Science 11:48.

 

Investigating the preferred balance of care between specialist and generalist doctors

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Current debates on the NHS workforce include discussions on the best balance between

  • specialists – with highly specialised skills who are brilliant at doing a small number of things extremely well
  • and generalists –  who can do a wider range of things in less depth

Image courtesy SRG Partnership

Rising multimorbidity, an ageing population, and the increasing specialisation of medical treatment are all seen as driving the need to increase the number of doctors with generalist skills. Generalists breadth of expertise enables them to manage both acute and chronic health problems and have been put forward as the way to provide better care for the increasing numbers of older and more complex patients requiring emergency medical admission.

A team of researchers from University College London and the Nuffield Trust is investigating the models of medical generalism currently in use in smaller acute hospitals in England and need your help.

A brief survey is asking for patient, professional and service perspectives on the balance of care between specialist and generalist models in hospitals for patients with acute medical conditions.

We would be very grateful if you could complete the survey within the next three weeks please, and we would like to encourage you to complete it at your earliest convenience. This will ensure we capture your views on models of care in small hospitals. The survey will take at most 5-10 minutes to complete. All responses will be handled securely, kept strictly confidential and anonymous, and stored in line with the Data Protection Act 1998 and new General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

Further details about the study are available here:

https://www.nuffieldtrust.org.uk/project/medical-generalism-in-smaller-hospitals

https://www.journalslibrary.nihr.ac.uk/programmes/hsdr/1419502/#/

Your views will provide vital evidence as part of this research, which will impact decision making around ways of working in hospitals relating to

  • issues around workforce education
  • continuing professional development and contractual arrangements
  • and the future of smaller hospitals and their role in the wider healthcare system.