Category Archives: Events

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CaHRU supports Newham general practices in prescribing safety Quality Improvement Collaborative

ludwiggutmann1Prof Niro Siriwardena spoke at the first engagement event of a new multi-organisational general practice quality improvement collaborative at the Stratford Olympic Park this February. The collaborative led by Professor Martin Marshall and his team at University College London, under the auspices of the Guttmann Academic Partnership launched in 2014, will involve working with NHS Newham Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) and UCL Partners to support safer prescribing in Newham general practice.

QIlogoProfessor Siriwardena gave an introduction to quality improvement science approaches in his talk ‘How can QI methods in general help to solve these [safety] challenges?’ at the inaugural meeting together with other experts in collaboratives, including Prof Marshall and Dr Neil Houston from NHS Scotland, and local general practitioners. The talk was based on experience from regional and national quality improvement collaboratives such as the Resources for Effective Sleep Treatment project and the Ambulance Services cardiovascular Quality Initiative. Prof Siriwardena has recently been part of a team awarded funding from the Health Foundation for a new regional collaborative aimed at ‘Improving prescribing safety in general practices in the East Midlands through the PINCER intervention.’

Niro@RSM2014._750The engagement event took place at the Sir Ludwig Guttman Health and Well Being Centre situated in the Olympic Park in Stratford, originally designed as the medical practice for the London 2012 Summer Olympics. It was well attended by general practitioners, patients and academic experts supporting the initiative and is part of the impact activity of CaHRU’s new research centre.

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CaHRU researchers present at EMS999 Research Forum Conference, Nottingham

Chiral_logoA team from CaHRU including Prof Niro Siriwardena, Fiona Togher and Viet-Hai Phung were represented at the EMS999 Research Forum Conference on Quality Improvement and Innovation Research in Prehospital Care in Nottingham on 4th February 2015. The conference, supported by the Health Foundation through their Spreading Improvement Programme, brought together the latest research and best practice in prehospital care. The conference featured several posters from ambulance services in England participating in the IMPACT-ASCQI project led by CaHRU.

Christopher Preston presentationProfessor Siriwardena kicked off the Conference with a keynote lecture on the evolution of quality improvement in prehospital care, ‘Prehospital quality improvement; past, present and future‘ which, innovatively, used some familial anecdotes to illustrate the links between principles of quality improvement and lessons for life!

Following the keynote was Richard Pilbery from Yorkshire Ambulance Service to talk about his experiences of speaking at the Paramedics Australasia Conference on the Australian Gold Coast. This was the prize that Richard won at last year’s EMS 999 Research Forum for producing the best poster. Following the first session, Matthew Booker from the University of Bristol presented his work on why ambulances are called for primary care problems followed by Mohammed Iqbal from EMAS on development of a novel pain assessment tool for improving prehospital pain management. Both presentations generated much interest, with Matthew winning the prize for best presentation at the end of the day.

photo3Just before lunch, Fiona Togher presented her poster, which showcased her doctoral study on development of patient-related experience measures for the ambulance service. The presentation was both well-delivered and well-received, with some thoughtful questions from the audience in response. In the afternoon, there was a workshop presented by Niro Siriwardena with Janette Turner from ScHARR on ‘Disseminating and Publishing Improvement Research’. This workshop was useful for all those with an interest in publishing articles, dealing with a number of themes including how to structure an article to which journals it should be pitched at.

The range and content of the posters and presentations demonstrated the continuing importance of the EMS 999 Research Forum for anyone with an interest in undertaking research in prehospital care.

Viet-Hai Phung

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Quality improvement webinar series launched

CaHRU are running a series of four ‘Quality Improvement Webinars: Introduction to Quality Improvement for Healthcare Practitioners’ every Friday in January from 9 January. Click here to see the introductory webinar. These have been supported by the Health Foundation and developed from a new book by Steve Gillam and Niro Gillam7680CoverPress2750Siriwardena, Quality Improvement in Primary Care: The essential guide published by Radcliffe Publishing (2014):

Each webinar will be posted before 08:00 am on the dates above. Join us from 12:00-13:00 pm every Friday this January 9th, 16th, 23rd, 30th afterwards for a Question & Answer session based on each webinar. All the webinars will be available via the QI learning website: http://elearning.ascqi.co.uk/resources

Send your questions in advance to fwood@lincoln.ac.uk using the hashtag #qilearning and including your twitter handle if you have one or alternatively post your question via twitter to @nsiriwardena

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Community and Health Research Unit forms new Research Centre

CaHRU WebsiteThe Community and Health Research Unit (CaHRU) has been awarded status as a university Research Centre. CaHRU’s mission is to increase people’s health and well-being by improving the quality, performance and systems of care across the health, social and third sector care services through interdisciplinary translational research.

CaHRU’s objectives are:

  • to improve people’s health and well-being by shaping the development of health and social care services and systems in the UK and internationally through excellent interdisciplinary translational research;
  • to promote high quality care which enhances the experience, safety, effectiveness, efficiency and equity of healthcare by examining and transforming the performance and function of health and social care practice, organisation and delivery;
  • to  engage service users, carers, practitioners, managers, commissioners and policymakers in our research;
  • to ensure that we maximise the impact of our research by responding to service priorities, working with service users and care organisations to embed research into practice and disseminate findings using the notion of ‘dissemination by design’ and through a variety of media;
  • to enable our researchers to achieve their highest potential through a research environment that encourages cooperation, collaboration and mutual support.

stethoscopeThe new centre, which will still be known as CaHRU, is staffed by 14 core researchers but benefits from working with many colleagues in other academic groups, other academic institutions and health services in a range of disciplines and focuses on translational, empirical and operational research relating to quality improvement in health and social care.

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Lincoln Institute for Health wins team achievement award for enterprise

LIFH-logo-web2The Lincoln Institute for Health (LIH), of which the Community and Health Research Unit is a constituent group, was judged winner in the University of Lincoln team award for achievement in enterprise. Profs Nick Blagden (left) and Steve McKay (right) pictured below received the award on behalf of the LIH. The LIH is the first cross-college interdisciplinary institute at the University of Lincoln and developed through discussion between a members of the Colleges of Science and Social Sciences with support from Pro Vice Chancellors and heads of the College of Social Sciences and Science, Profs Sara Owen and Andrew Hunter and the executive including Prof Mary Stuart and Prof Ieuan Owen.

LIHaward2014750Academics realised through that through their common interest in health-related research they had a unique opportunity to develop the an Institute where researchers and clinicians could better understand the healthcare needs of patients and populations; work closely with patients, public, and health and social care partners locally, regionally and nationally to find solutions to address these needs in a way that would be more relevant; test these solutions with patients and professionals enabling them to maximise future uptake and impact of our research.

B0008077 Blood clot forming in arterial plaqueThe Institute connects research from ‘cell to community’, from researchers working on cellular mechanisms of disease, through design of new drugs and drug delivery methods, novel tests and treatments using computers and engineering, health prevention and promotion through sport and exercise, right through to developing and testing drugs and interventions in health settings in primary care, ambulance services and hospitals.

caring handsThe research groups involved are Molecular Basis of Disease (MBOD), Drug Design and Delivery (DDAD), Laboratory of Vision Engineering (LOVE), Lincoln Centre for Social Computing (LiSC), Perception and Cognition (PAC), Health Advancement Research Team (HART), Policy Studies Research Centre (PSRC), and CaHRU. Other groups are likely to join the Institute including from the College of Art, Architecture and Design. The institute has also had strong support from health service partners: United Lincolnshire Hospitals, East Midlands Ambulance Service, Lincolnshire Community Health Services, and Lincolnshire Partnership Foundation NHS Trusts. The new director of the Institute, Professor Chris Bridle, will start at the university in January 2015.