


- Kattach, L., Singleton, H., Ersser, S., Holley, D., Pearson, I. & Shadeed, A. (2025), Nurse-Led Models of Service Delivery for Skin Cancer Detection: A Systematic Review. Journal of Advanced Nursing.[online first] https://doi.org/10.1111/jan.16854
Latest research and knowledge exchange news at Bournemouth University
The National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) INSIGHT programme is a unique opportunity designed to inspire and equip the next generation of health and social care researchers. As part of its commitment to fostering a world-class research workforce, the NIHR INSIGHT programme offers a transformative experience with numerous benefits:
The Dorset Indian Association in collaboration with the NHS Wessex Cancer Alliance and Bournemouth University ran a very successful Cancer Awareness Event at Bournemouth University today Saturday, 25th January 2025. At the event a range of experts from University Hospitals Dorset NHS Foundation Trust spoke about the risks and prevention and early detection of various cancers, including bowel, lung, breast, skin, head and neck and other cancers. The presentations also included early detection and aspects of mental health in cancer patients. BU’s Professor Steve Ersser, for example, spoke about a currently on-going interdisciplinary health education project in the cancer field.
There were separate opportunities for the audience to get on breast screening and health checks, provided by the Dorset Breast Screening Unit, LiveWell Dorset and staff based in BU’s Faculty of Health and Social Science.
Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen
Faculty of Health & Social Sciences
This week the international scientific journal Midwifery published Ms. Joanne Rack’s second paper from her PhD research. This latest paper ‘The Pregnant Pause: Engaging and Involving Public Contributors in Maternal Health Research‘ [1] appeared online two days ago. This paper focuses on Joanne’s PPI (Patient Public Involvement) in prepartion for her PhD research. The public contributors of PPI groups can include an extensive range of people, including patients, family members or carers, people from allied organisations, service users, and members of the general public who have an interest in research for other reasons. Participants bring their unique perspectives and experiences that can help to shape and inform the research process. This type of involvement ensures that maternal health research is grounded in the needs and preferences of those it aims to serve and grows a sense of ownership and investment among those who use the services but also those who provide them. Joanne stresses that PPI is an essential element for all maternal health endeavours.
Joanne is doing a Clinical Doctorate in the Centre for Midwifery & Women’s Health (CMWH) specialising in personalised care for women of advanced maternal age. This PhD study is matched-funded by University Hospitals Dorset (UHD) NHS Foundation Trust and Bournemouth University. Her PhD is supervised and supported by Profs. Vanora Hundley, Ann Luce and Edwin van Teijlingen at BU and Dr. Latha Vinayakarao in Poole Maternity Hospital. The first PhD paper with Joanne as lead author was her research protocol ‘Understanding perceptions and communication of risk in advanced maternal age: a scoping review (protocol) on women’s engagement with health care services’ published int he summer of 2024 [2].
References:
Today and yesterday (January 7-8) academics involved in MIHERC (Maternal and Infant Health Equity Research Centre), the successful interdisciplinary collaboration to address challenges in maternity care, met in Bournemouth. MIHERC is led by Sheffield Hallam University, along with Bournemouth University, South Yorkshire Digital Health Hub (SYDHH) and the Health Determinant Research Collaboration, Doncaster. In addition, a range of local and national partners are recognised. MIHERC is one of the nine groups of UK universities making up the new NIHR Challenge Maternity Disparities Consortium. This NIHR Consortium aims of tackling inequalities in maternity outcomes, focusing on inequalities before, during and after pregnancy.
Our second planning meeting highlighted our collective strengths including our expertise in community engagement and PPIE (Public & Patient Involvement & Engagement); intelligent digital solutions in maternity service delivery; research into under-served communities; and capacity building of both communities and maternity staff. The first planning meeting was held late last year at Sheffield Hallam University.
MIHERC is the only midwifery-led collaboration with a strong community engagement and digital inclusive research. MIHERC will work with various NHS Trusts as well as charities such as the Active Pregnancy Foundation, Active Dorset, and Maternal Mental Health Alliance.
This week ResearchGate notified us that our methods paper ‘The Importance of Pilot Studies‘ [1], published 22 years ago in The Nursing Standard, has now been read 170,000 times! Prof. Vanora Hundley and Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen wrote this more elementary paper after publishing an in-depth academic paper on a pilot study into assessing maternity care in Scotland [2]. The latter paper described their learning from a pilot study which we conducted prior to a cross-national study of births in Scotland.
The methods paper in the Nursing Standard is also their most highly cited paper. Today Google Scholar lists it with 2,035 citations, interestingly this is not the case on SCOPUS as The Nursing Standard is not listed on SCOPUS. Researchers seem to be quoting this paper in their research methods section when they have done pilot or feasibility study for a larger-scale study.
References:
Race Equity Month – Can the UK finally tackle health disparities in maternity care?
Last week Prof. Hora Sultani, who leads the joint bid submitted by Sheffield Hallam University (SHU) and Bournemouth University (BU) in reply to the ‘NIHR Challenge: Maternity Inequalities funding call’, wrote an article on the website of the Council of Deans for Health. This piece with the title ‘Race Equity Month – Can the UK finally tackle health disparities in maternity care?‘ can be freely accessed (click here!). One of Prof. Soltani’s key arguments is that it is vital that national policy makers and service providers collaborate with researchers and communities to co-design and provide practical solutions for such important maternity challenges in UK society.
Prof. Soltani was writing on behalf of the UK Network of Professors in Midwifery and Maternal and Newborn Health, an organisation to which both Profs Hundley and van Teijlingen belong.
This morning the editor of the Frontiers in Psychiatry emailed us that the paper reporting the findings of the baseline data of a large-scale epidemiological study into pregnancy during COVID-19 in the UK has been published [1]. The interdisciplinary research team includes researchers from University Hospitals Dorset NHS Foundation Trust (Dr. Latha Vinayakarao & Prof. Minesh Khashu) and Bournemouth University (Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen).
This longitudinal study explores how the SARS-CoV-2 [COVID-19] pandemic affected the mental health of pregnant people in the UK. In mid-to-late 2020, we recruited 3666 individuals in the UK for the EPPOCH pregnancy cohort (Maternal mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic: Effect of the Pandemic on Pregnancy Outcomes and Childhood Health). Participants were assessed for depression, anxiety, anger and pregnancy-related anxiety using validated scales. Additionally, physical activity, social support, individualized support and personal coping ability of the respondents were assessed as potential resilience factors.
Participants reported high levels of depression (57.05%), anxiety (58.04%) and anger (58.05%). Higher levels of social and individualized support and personal coping ability were associated with lower mental health challenges. Additionally, pregnant individuals in the UK experienced higher depression during the pandemic than that reported in Canada. Finally, qualitative analysis revealed that restrictions for partners and support persons during medical appointments as well as poor public health communication led to increased mental health adversities and hindered ability to make medical decisions.
The study highlights the increased mental health challenges among pregnant individuals in the UK during pandemic. These results highlight the need for reassessing the mental health support measures available to pregnant people in the UK, both during times of crisis and in general.
Reference:
Congratulations to Ph.D. student Joanne Rack on the publication today of her paper ‘Understanding perceptions and communication of risk in advanced maternal age: a scoping review (protocol) on women’s engagement with health care services’ [1]. Joanne is currently doing a Clinical Doctorate in the Centre for Midwifery & Women’s Health (CMWH) focusing on personalised care for women of advanced maternal age. Her doctoral study is matched-funded by University Hospitals Dorset NHS Foundation Trust and Bournemouth University [BU].
Her PhD is supervised and supported by Profs. Vanora Hundley, Ann Luce and Edwin van Teijlingen at BU and Dr. Latha Vinayakarao in Poole Maternity Hospital.
Well done!
Reference:
Join our public lecture and debate on Wednesday 17 July, 5:30-7pm to find out how to advocate for your rights to medical treatment
People living in Dorset currently face some of the worst levels of contact with health services in the UK, with GP waiting times in the county the second longest in England.
Join our public lecture and debate, led by Bournemouth University legal experts Dr Samuel Walker and Dr Matthew Watkins to explore your legal and ethical rights to timely care and treatment. Discover practical steps you can take to speed up diagnosis and treatment for you and your family, and discuss the recent introduction of ‘Martha’s Rule’, which enables you to seek a second opinion on the NHS.
After the lecture (30 minutes approx.), you will be invited to move into small groups to discuss your own experiences and suggest ways to improve local access and provision to healthcare services
We cordially invite you to the 3rd Symposium of the BU Interdisciplinary Neuroscience Research Centre on Wednesday, the 12th of June 2024, from 9:30-13:00 at the Inspire Lecture Theatre, Fusion Building (1st floor).
The symposium is entitled: “Interdisciplinary Computational and Clinical Approaches at the Edge of Brain Research”.
This third symposium revolves around contrasting computational and translational methodologies from a cross-disciplinary standpoint, leveraging synergies between BU and our collaborators in other universities and at the NHS. It is an opportunity for informal discussions on grant proposals and to explore shared interests with our external guests.
The schedule is as follows:
9:00-9:15. Welcome and Coffee.
9:30. Keynote talk: Prof. Dr Miguel Maravall (School of Life Sciences, Sussex Neuroscience Centre of Excellence, Sussex University): “What is the function of sensory cortex in a world full of actions? From sensory maps to task-directed responses”. The speaker will be on the screen.
10.20-10:40. Coffee and Discussions.
10:40-11:40. Session I. Integrating Cognitive and Computational Neuroscience.
11.40 -12.00. Coffee and Discussions.
12.00-13:00. Session II. Interdisciplinary Clinical Approaches and Closing Remarks.
If you have any queries, please do not hesitate to contact Ellen Seiss, eseiss@bournemouth.ac.uk or Emili Balaguer-Ballester, eb-ballester@bournemouth.ac.uk. Feel free to forward this information to any colleague or student who may be interested.
Thank you very much, and we are looking forward to seeing you there.
Kind regards,
Ellen and Emili, on behalf of all of us.
Last chance to submit…
The Conference Committee welcome all PGRs in HSS to submit an abstract to present at the 2nd annual department conference, which will be held on Tuesday 4th June.
Some more optimistic takes on what might be in the party manifestos for HE: the sort of commitments being asked for seem somewhat optimistic: later in this update I look at some detailed proposals on maintenance finance, a call to scrap the REF (which might have more take-up in the manifestos), the KEF via a HE- BCI survey (might someone suggest scrapping the KEP?), apprenticeship results are out and numbers on international education. Amongst all that I also look at a speech from Susan Lapworth.
You’ve seen the UUK one, here is the one from MillionPlus. (Policy update from February: The UUK manifesto sets out a wish list for the sector. It all looks very expensive and so while ambitious, unlikely to be replicated in anyone’s actual manifesto. We can expect to see more of these over the next few months. Research Professional have the story here.)
Iain Mansfield says that Labour should ‘scrap REF and save half a billion’, Research Professional reports. Not because there is any problem with a metric for research: just a strong feeling that it shouldn’t include a metric for environment and culture. RP add: Speaking at Research Professional News live last week, Labour’s shadow science minister, Chi Onwurah, said she was “concerned about some of the bureaucracy associated with the REF” and stopped short of committing to retaining it in its current form. I don’t think that means stopping the culture and environment part, but it is hard to know. These debates will run for a while.
The HE-BCI survey is used in the Knowledge Exchange Framework. Just how much difference the KEF makes to anything and how interested anyone except the sector really is in it, is still, for me, an open question that I have asked since KEF was just a glint in Jo Johnson’s eye (the third leg of the HE stool etc…). Of course if they started using KEF to allocate HEIF it would matter a lot more, but the KEF data doesn’t really lend itself to that. As a reminder, it uses a different comparison group (clusters) to everything else, three of its “perspectives” are self-assessed and all it tells you is whether engagement with the perspective is deemed to be low, medium or high. In a highly technical presentation format.
But as the (only real) metrics behind the (incomprehensible) KEF wheels (just take a look here and see what you learn), HE-BCI data does have some influence. And HESA did a survey on some bits of it which closed in January. There will be another consultation at some point.
It is always interesting to hear or read a speech by the head of the OfS, so here is one.
After a friendly introduction telling the Association of Colleges what good work their members do, it is straight in on quality:
Talking about the ongoing quality assessments, there are some changes coming:
A defensive approach to the big effort on freedom of speech? You decide
And some new areas of focus:
And there is a new strategy consultation coming for the OfS.
Achievements rate update: a update published by the DfE. The Minister for Skills, Apprenticeships and Higher Education, Robert Halfon has written an open letter to the apprenticeship sector celebrating the latest achievement rates and setting out some developments.
While the government are very keen to encourage more apprenticeships, there is a stern approach to providers here: not dissimilar to the rhetoric on HE, there will be student number controls linked to quality as defined by outcomes. While “training not being as good as hoped” is a factor in the list above, as is “poor organisation” of the programme, that is in the context of all the other reasons linked to employers and jobs. However, the government can’t do much about those, and is not in the business of discouraging employers from participating. But this will put more pressure on providers who are already finding apprenticeships bureaucratic and hard and expensive to deliver.
It’s not putting them off just yet, though. This update from the OfS on the second wave of funding for apprenticeships highlights how many providers are really going for it. Degree apprenticeships funding competition: Funding allocated to wave 2 projects (officeforstudents.org.uk)
Anyway, the ideas for future development in the Minister’s letter are:
Oh dear, another negative story about student debt that will discourage potential applicants (and as always, their parents). This time it is the BBC who revealed that the UK’s highest student debt was £231k. Quite how they managed to rack up that much is unclear: by doing lots of courses, it seems (although surely there are limits on that – apparently there are exceptions to those rules). The highest level of interest accumulated was around £54,050. The student interviewed is a doctor: the length of medical programmes means that, along with vets and dentists, doctors tend to accumulate the highest student loans.
The Sutton Trust have published a report on reforming student maintenance ahead of the general election.
There are suggestions about how to address the challenges.
Scenarios include
The government has issued 2021 data on UK revenue from education related exports and transnational education activity.
David Kernohan from Wonkhe has some analysis, always worth checking out for the nuances, including:
Research Professional also has an article.
Today we received a copy of the book Appreciating Health and Care in the post. This book has a sub-title ‘A practical appreciative inquiry resource for the health and social care sector’ and refers to the work led by Bournemouth University’s Dr. Rachel Arnold. Appreciative Inquiry values people’s expertise and vision and can motivate people to see the world differently and instigate positive change. Rachel been the lead author on several publications around Appreciative Inquiry [1-3].
Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen
Centre for Midwifery & Women’s Health (CMWH)
References:
TBL for supported self-management of low back pain
A team based in the Department of Nursing Science led by Dr Jonny Branney have began a research project to investigate the potential role of Team-based Learning (TBL – for more on TBL, please read on) in enhancing the supported self-management of patients with low back pain. The team will be working with Joe Barry, musculoskeletal physiotherapist, NHS Somerset, to implement this new approach in a 5-week course for patients with persistent back pain. The project began with a patient-public involvement (PPI) online consultation in February 2024, funded by NIHR RDS South West, where 10 expert patients gave their views on what was planned – and the plans have been modified and improved accordingly. The TBL pain classes will be implemented in April-May 2024. The team are eagerly awaiting the outcome of a bid for a TBLC Research Grant which would fund a researcher to interview the patients who attend the first class to learn from their experiences with a view to learning how best to scale up the innovation.
Connected to this research there are two TBL workshops running next week – if this has piqued your interest then please read on and we hope you can join us next week!
Team-Based Learning (TBL) is an evidence based flipped classroom teaching and learning strategy. With TBL, students are required to engage with pre-class materials before working through a test in class as an individual and then in a team of 5-6 students. This process helps to prepare the student teams to then engage with application exercises, where they apply their knowledge in making decisions to manage real-world scenarios relevant to their discipline. Think TBL might be a good fit for your teaching and learning approach? Fancy trying something different? Come and join us!
Facilitators: Dr Jonny Branney, Principal Academic in Nursing and Clinical Sciences; Certified Consultant-Trainer in TBL
and Ryan Muldoon, Lecturer in Adult Nursing
Venue: BRANKSOME – Talbot Campus
Date: Wednesday 6th March 2024
Workshop 1: Fundamental Principles and Practices of TBL (10am – 12pm)
Learning outcomes:
Workshop 2: Evaluating Multiple Choice Questions (MCQs) for Readiness Assurance Tests (RATs) and Application Activities (1pm – 3pm)
Learning outcomes:
Want to know more? Have a look here: www.teambasedlearning.org
Hope to see you there!
An interesting mixture of news: a look around through the eyes of the House of Lords library and a lengthy analysis of the differences between the 4 nations, a hopeful look forward through the UUK manifesto for the election, Research England are taking steps on spin-outs and there are serious concerns about abuse of franchised provision arrangements in some parts of the sector. I also look at the latest developments in two sad cases of student deaths and what the might mean for the sector going forwards. A look at Scottish and Welsh funding for HE just makes everyone scratch their heads more about how to make the numbers add up.
Here’s something cheerful in the context of all the criticism of the sector: a House of Lords library briefing on the sector’s contribution to the economy and levelling up. This has come out because there is a motion in the House of Lords in early March: Lord Blunkett (Labour) to move that this House takes note of the contribution of higher education to national growth, productivity and levelling up.
As we were reminded by all this week’s chaos and anger about the Gaza motion and its various amendments, these “motions” have no actual force: they don’t directly lead to any action or decision, they are usually very party political in nature and it is not unusual for one party or another to decline to vote on them at all so that while they may be passed there is even less meaning to be taken from them.
That is not to say that they don’t have some impact: the debate itself can influence perceptions in the longer term and the briefings are always interesting. A reminder that briefings from the libraries of the House of Commons and the House of Lords are not party political: they are intended to be factual and to be used by all potential participants in the debate. As such they provide a useful summary of the current state of affairs.
So to this one:
Citing a London Economics report for UUK in August 2023: Its analysis estimated that the ‘economic footprint’ of HE providers across the UK resulted in:
And goes on to quote from the report: In addition to the large impact within the government, health, and education sector itself (£52.8bn of economic output), the activities of UK HE providers are estimated to generate particularly large impacts within the distribution, transport, hotels, and restaurants sector (£15.4bn), the production sector (£12.6bn), the real estate sector (£9.7bn), and the professional and support activities sector (£9.2bn).
Using a separate London Economics Report with HEPI and Kaplan International Pathways from May 2023 it also refers to findings about the contribution of international students: The average impact was highest for parliamentary constituencies in London (with an average net impact of £131mn per constituency, equivalent to £1,040 per resident). The average impact per parliamentary constituency in the North East and Scotland was estimated at £640 and £750 respectively per member of the resident population; between £500 and £510 per member of the resident population in the East and West Midlands, Northern Ireland, and Yorkshire and the Humber; and between £360 and £390 in the North West, South East, South West, the East of England, and Wales
There is a load of data about participation, and then this on outcomes, using the government’s graduate labour market statistics from June 2023
The paper goes on to talk about government policy, including its levelling up strategy, but also its policy statement from July 2023 which was the final response to the Augar review from 2019. You’ll remember this one, it talked about promoting level 4 and 5 courses, applying student numbers controls to provision with “poor outcomes”, and proposed fee caps and loan limits for foundation years. [You will also recall that this confirmed they would not go ahead with the minimum entry requirements that had been proposed].
In the context of international students, the paper notes the concerns about immigration and the recent changes to visa rules to prevent most students bringing their families to the UK. Following some exciting stories in the press about entry standards (which were covered in the last update), the paper notes the recent announcement by UUK that they will review admissions practices for international students.
UUK has recently announced a review of admissions practices for international students following concerns that institutions were lowering admission standards to bolster recruitment and fees. This will include reviews of:
There’s an analysis of responses to the levelling up approach including a reference to a report by Lord Willetts from October 2023 which set out four groups of benefits that higher education can offer individuals and society.
It should be an interesting debate, and a useful reminder of the value of higher education. Just don’t expect any policy changes as a result.
The UUK manifesto sets out a wish list for the sector. It all looks very expensive and so while ambitious, unlikely to be replicated in anyone’s actual manifesto. We can expect to see more of these over the next few months. Research Professional have the story here.
An article in the FT by Alison Wolf calls for the percentage of the apprenticeship levy to be reduced, for it to be extended to smaller businesses and for limits what it can be used for.
In the meantime, the Education Policy Institute, along with a range of partners, have published a report Comparing policies, participation and inequalities across UK post-16 education and training landscapes. This is an interim report and compares contexts, choices and outcomes across the 4 nations. It’s a weighty piece and mostly about 16-18 education, but some highlights relevant to HE include:
Recommendations are mostly about schools and FE not HE, but we would agree with this:
In the section about funding it notes the divide between FE and HE (from p24):
You will recall that the government published alongside the Autumn Statement its response to the Independent Review of University Spin-out Companies. The government said that it accepted all the recommendations of the review and would implement them all. These were:
Research England have now set out how they are going to do all this. There is a blog here.
And this: Our Connecting Capability Fund (CCF)-RED programme is our main approach to developing university commercialisation capability, through collaboration. We are shortly to publish our priority commercialisation themes for CCF-RED including a first opportunity to bid
In late January there was a National Audit Office report that triggered press interest into allegedly fraudulent outsourced providers of HE. It doesn’t name providers. As a result there is a hearing at the Public Accounts Committee on 26th Feb. More here from Wonkhe.
We already knew that subcontracted provision is one of the OfS priorities for quality assurance reviews this year but those quality assurance reviews are not usually announced in advance and we don’t believe that they have been kicked off for this year yet.
This week the OfS have announced a formal investigation into one university in relation to its subcontracted provision, looking at whether:
A Wonkhe article on the formal investigation: 22nd Feb 24 highlights the large proportion of subcontracted students at this provider.
Context from the NAO report:
Summary findings:
There are some interesting articles from the last year here:
A HEPI paper from this week suggested some ways forward, describing what one provider (Buckinghamshire New University) already does and concluding: “We believe the solution is a strong sector-wide and sector-owned code of practice that requires higher education institutions to work together in the wider interests of students and stakeholders, including government and regulators. This would see higher education institutions establish effective consortia for each franchisee, simplifying and coordinating the multiple demands they place on franchisees, and strengthening the requirements to enhance quality and promote stability”.
There has been a long running campaign by bereaved parents, politicians and others to impose a “duty of care” on universities in relation to students with mental health issues, sometimes described as similar to universities being “in loco parentis” for students. The stories are always terribly sad and this is a difficult area, especially as students are adults and sometimes do not want to engage with university services or staff on these issues, and sometimes don’t want to involve their parents either. A little bit of clarity is emerging as a result of two recent cases. There is no legal duty of care (whatever that means) yet, but there is discussion about a responsibility on staff to “notice” and also about a duty to ensure that process and procedures don’t get in the way of reasonable adjustments.
This debate will continue: the government is pushing all universities to sign up to the University Mental Health Charter (BU has) and the OfS is also undertaking work on this. The government have a taskforce led by Professor Edward Peck, and I reported on their first stage report in the last policy update: you can find that report here and the policy update from 5th Feb here. It is a complex area but one where there will certainly be a lot more changes in approach to come: including potentially OfS licence conditions in the future.
I noted last time the recent coroner’s report into a student death at the University of Southampton. This Wonkhe article from January covers the story.
The next case relates to the University of Bristol. Again, Wonkhe have the story.
The response from the University of Bristol is here.
A year since the OfS launched their consultation on their new approach to this, we are still waiting for the outcome: the consultation closed in May 2023. There’s an anniversary HEPI blog on the issues, which are complex and contested: perhaps why it is taking the OfS so long to reach a conclusion.
Recent updates have talked about the conflicting rhetoric on international students: Lord Jo Johnson has written in the FT with a plan to sort out the problem. Nice try; but the first two seem unlikely to catch on:
There has been concern about falling numbers taking up healthcare courses, recently. This story on Research Professional notes the fall in nursing applications.
Research Professional noted that some of the mission groups have written to the Secretaries of State for Education and Health calling for a cross government taskforce. You can read the letter via the University Alliance website here.
The mission groups argue the taskforce would:
Universities UK have issued a report on why students may not go ahead, based on a survey.
As we have described before, we know very little about what a potential Labour government would do about HE funding: they want to make it both fairer and more affordable, they are not keen on capping ambition and reducing numbers, but there is no more money. The only thing we do know is that they are interested in what is happening in Wales on post-16 regulation. And it seems likely that they would improve maintenance funding, at least a bit.
So in that context this HEPI blog is interesting. HEPI are doing a tour and holding events this Spring to talk about how funding works across the UK and how it could be changed: I will report the outcomes.
The IfS have published a report on the Scottish budget for higher Education Spending.
Research Professional have the story here.
The implementation of the new legislation on freedom of speech continues. A new blog on the OfS website reminds us of where we are and of what is to come.
Our article in the January/February edition of the National Health Executive (NHE) magazine highlights misinformation around trials of the use of drones to transport medical items. The article, written in collaboration with Dr Andy Oakey at University of Southampton draws on findings from the three-year E-Drone research project and is part of a targeted dissemination plan as this project draws to a close. The article challenges assumptions around cost and carbon savings whilst questioning the need to transport items more quickly. It offers some quick ‘filters’ to apply when considering the role of drones in NHS logistics systems. Read it here for a taste of E-Drone Research (see project website for much, much more…)
Prof. Ann Luce (FMC), Ms. Georgia Turner (PhD candidate FST), Ms. Lauren Kennedy (MSc student FST) and Dr. Reece D. Bush-Evans (Lecturer in FST) are pleased to announce the publication of their most recent work in British Medical Journal: Medical Humanities titled, “Quite simply they don’t communicate: a case study of a National Health Service response to staff suicide”. You can access the article here for free.
Workplace suicide can have significant knock-on effects within an organisation, yet research has shown within the healthcare profession, not all staff receive suicide prevention training, and few employers take the time to reflect on the need to change workplace policies or practices following the death of a staff member to suicide. How staff suicide is communicated across an organisation and to family members is important. Effective crisis communication is critical for effective management for a timely and sensitive response to a staff suicide within an organisation. By doing so, workplaces can help to reduce the significant emotional trauma suicide can have on an employee, and support good mental health across its workforce.
This groundbreaking work in the field of suicide prevention is already having an impact. The work was cited by Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee recent report on “Improving Mental Health Services”. Furthermore, the research has served as the underpinning evidence for NHS England’s National Suicide Prevention Toolkit for England, which will be implemented across all NHS Trusts in England. And, with a renewed focus on healthcare suicide, with a specific focus on female nurses, the research served as underpinning evidence for England’s National Suicide Prevention Strategy that was released in September 2023.
The team would like to thank all research participants as this was a difficult project to complete. Further, thanks must also be extended to NHS England for funding, the BU Open Access Fund, and the colleagues across BU who read drafts of the work prior to publication.