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International media coverage for research linking flu vaccine with reduced risk of stroke

ipvastia_wordcloudA study from CaHRU, ‘Influenza vaccination and risk of stroke: self-controlled case-series study‘, recently published in the journal Vaccine, received international coverage in news media. The study of almost 18,000 patients with stroke looked at data from general practices in England using a self-controlled case series analysis, and showed that the risk of suffering a stroke is significantly reduced for up to two months after receiving a flu vaccine.

ipvastia_teamThe lead author was Dr Zahid Asghar, who conducted the research together with Prof Niro Siriwardena (both from CaHRU) and Dr Carol Coupland (from Nottingham University School of Community Health Sciences). This is the fourth in a series of studies over the past 10 years looking at the link between flu vaccination and reduction in risk of heart attack and stroke.

ipvastia_mediamapThe coverage included articles in The Times, Sun and Scottish Sun newspapers, BBC television and radio and online media outlets in the US, Middle East, Asia, Australasia and South America. The team are now designing future studies to explore the potential for flu vaccination to reduce risk of heart attack and stroke.

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CaHRU and School of Social and Political Science win Wellcome Trust funding for Network exploring Ethics of Ambulance Trials

Adele2Professor Niro Siriwardena from CaHRU and Dr Adele Langlois from the School of Social and Political Sciences at the University of Lincoln have been awarded a seed award in humanities and social science from the Wellcome Trust to develop a Network exploring the Ethics of Ambulance Trials (NEAT). Dr Langlois is a social scientist who is an expert in biomedical ethics and governance. The network also includes leading prehospital researchers: Profs Philip Bath (Nottingham University), Jonathan Benger (University of West of England), Gavin Perkins (Warwick), Tom Quinn (University of Surrey), Helen Snooks (Swansea University) and Drs Chris Price (Newcastle University) and Sarah Voss (University of West of England).

NRandomised controlled trials in ambulance settings are a relatively recent but growing area of research which poses particular challenges, including urgency of conditions and treatment, and difficulties with recruitment, randomisation and informed consent where time may be limited or patient capacity impaired. NEAT will involve interviews with researchers, health professionals and patients involved in ambulance trials together with the legal and systematic reviews and networking activities bringing together national experts in the ethical issues and design of prehospital clinical trials.

NThe team seek to raise awareness among researchers, practitioners, ethics committees and the public of developments in the ethics and conduct of ambulance trials and provide the basis for much needed research to inform recommendations for best ethical practice in future trials. Prof Siriwardena and Dr Langlois are currently recruiting a research assistant to join them to work on the study in 2016.

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Have you used ambulance services in the past year? We would be interested to hear from you for a CaHRU study

If you have used the ambulance service in the previous 12 months and are happy to take part in an interview for a new study we would like to hear from you.

PREMposter

This study is part of doctoral research being undertaken by Fiona Togher, Graduate Research Assistant at CaHRU, to develop a Patient Reported Experience Measure (PREM), a brief questionnaire for measuring experiences of ambulance service users. This will enable NHS ambulance services and their commissioners to routinely assess differences in patient experiences between and within organisations and to stimulate positive changes to the experiences of ambulance service users through feedback, training and education to clinicians; it could also be an opportunity to identify the strengths of ambulance service care and provide evidence of good practice.

The purpose of this study is to try to understand how people interpret the questions that have been developed so that we can improve them. In order to do this we are conducting interviews with ambulance service users, showing them the latest version of the questionnaire, and asking them to respond to the questions and share their thoughts and opinions of the questions.

If you would like to take part please contact Fiona Togher on ftogher@lincoln.ac.uk or 01522 837731.

Fiona Togher

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HEI Challenge for Patient Supported Quality Improvement and Education in Healthcare PPI conference

The Higher Education Institution (HEI) Challenge for Patient Supported Quality Improvement and Education in Healthcare held its Patient and Public Involvement Working Group Conference at Loughborough University on 1st October 2015. This collaborative event formed a central part of the HEI Challenge. Led by the Patient and Public Involvement working group, the overall aim of the event was to provide a forum to focus and share achievements and help identify how Universities can support developments for the future; locally, regionally and more widely.

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RachelHawleyposterWho Attended? Just over fifty people attended the event, bringing together both staff and service user perspectives. Participating universities were represented by staff, service user and learner voices. People travelled from across the region from a range of voluntary and service user led organisation including; Healthwatch Nottinghamshire, British Heart Foundation National Centre for Physical Activity and Health, Leicester – Loughborough Biomedical Research Unit, CLASH – MSK, Alzheimer’s Action Alliance, Diabetes UK, and the Carers Federation.

HThe HEI Challenge Award 2014-15, from the East Midlands Academic Health Science Network, is a unique opportunity for East Midlands Universities to foster a sustainable approach to working collaboratively for the benefit of our population and to drive positive experiences and outcomes for learners and local employers. The ultimate goal of the HEI Challenge is to collaboration to share, develop, showcase and spread work across East Midlands and surrounding Universities around the unifying topic of healthcare quality improvement.

Loughborough5Overview and highlights of the day: Conference delegates were welcomed to the event by Kristen Clements. Together Kris and Rhian Last co lead the PPI working group. The day began with a two presentations on that addressed the HEI challenge for patient supported quality improvement and education in healthcare. Rachel Hawley, Project Manager began by providing an overview of the Challenge to set the context for the day. Professor Niro Siriwardena showcased examples of patient supported quality improvement.. Participants engaged in group discussions to explore what patient supported quality improvement means to them and their organisation, each working group capturing its essence in ways that will inform future guiding principles for practice.

102915_1047_HEIChalleng1.pngThe Street Activity: The lunch time period was filled with conversations and emerging collaborations. Ten service user led / voluntary sector organisations gathered in ‘The Street’ to participate in activities aimed at stimulating conversations, hopefully leading to new collaborative projects. Participants were invited to submit project ideas to be awarded funding – further information about these projects will be shared soon. Participants engaged in a range of activities along the way; from stepper machines, to Bollywood dancing.

The afternoon began by moving into workshops activities on the following themes:

  • Loughborough3Involvement and Inclusion in action: Shahnaz Aziz, EM-AHSN; Theo Stickley, University of Nottingham and and Julie Gosling, Making Waves
  • Bridging the gap for involvement in research, education and practice: Andrew Grundy, Nottingham University and Elizabeth Rye SUCRAN
  • To train or not to train? The development for involvement: Paula Wray CLAHRC
  • Assessment of impact – The value of patient stories: Rachel White – NHS England

Keynote Showcase: Transformational change and social innovation

Loughborough4The final session showcased staff and service users coming together to share their experiences through two presentations; Phil Smith, Kidney patient champion, Emma Watson, Kidney patient centre representative along with SCAD team members, Rebecca Pritchard and Catherine Beck. Experiences were shared that clearly showed the benefits of patient supported quality improvement in action; for staff, for service users and for the organisation.

A participant said: “That was a fantastic event. I thought the blend of academic input and service user experience was just right. Some of these events are valuable but exhausting. This time I found it valuable and energizing – and much more determined to push harder“.

[su_document url=”https://communityandhealth.dev.lincoln.ac.uk/files/2015/10/PPI-Event-Report_FINAL-.pdf” responsive=”no”]Multi-morbidity, goal-oriented care, the community and equity[/su_document]

For further information or to get involved you can:

  • If you are interested in finding out more about the HEI Challenge contact Rachel Hawley, Project Manager – rhawley@lincoln.ac.uk 07711 532512
  • If you are interested in finding out more about the Patient and Public Involvement working group you can contact either Kristen Clements (K.M.Clements@lboro.ac.uk) or Rhian Last (R.Last@educationforhealth.org)

– We hope that you will help us continue the conversations:

Please follow us on Twitter: @qi_learning

Rachel Hawley

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New book chapter from CaHRU on equality and diversity in prehospital ambulance care

vhp2A new book, Ambulance Services: Leadership and Management Perspectives by Professors Paresh Wankhade and Kevin Mackway-Jones, features a chapter on equality and diversity in prehospital care, co-authored by Viet-Hai Phung and Prof Niro Siriwardena of CaHRU together with Dr Karen Windle of the School of Health and Social Care. The new volume also refers to CaHRU’s work in developing indicators and processes for measuring and improving the quality of care provided by ambulance services.

AScoverThe chapter, Responding to diversity and delivering equality in prehospital care: statutory responsibilities, best practice and recommendations, explores the impact of increasing diversity in the UK population and NHS workforce on prehospital care delivery. As public sector organisations, ambulance services are bound by The Equality Act 2010, which obliges them to promote equality and outlaw discrimination, harassment and victimisation of people with protected characteristics such as age, disability, race, gender and sexual orientation. Ambulance services use the Equality Delivery System (EDS), a voluntary toolkit that provides guidance about how they can achieve their duties set out in The Equality Act 2010. Building on the original EDS, the new EDS2 framework encourages organisations to flexibly reflect local sensitivities.

NThere are still significant variations in the quality of data that ambulance services possess for different protected characteristic groups, which also makes progress towards greater equality difficult to measure. The chapter summarises the current policy, problems in delivering this and potential solutions to overcome these.

Viet-Hai Phung