INTRODUCTION: IMPROVING CARE THROUGH COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH
W therefore wholeheartedly support the core
e know that ground-breaking research brings
purpose of UEA Health and Social Care Partners (UEAHSCP): to build collaboration between like-minded organisations across our region to
care professionals. That is part of our civic responsibility as a University and of our partners as anchor institutions in this region. Combining the expertise across partner organisations and many other associate organisations, UEAHSCP is a fantastic example of where ambition combined with expertise can ensure research contributes to a stronger and healthier community.
initiatives and burgeoning research communities. the potential for more extensive collaboration and more ambitious outcomes is clear to see. Together million people, and achieving an economic impact of over £7 billion. We can, and will, achieve even more together in the coming year. We will focus on three areas critical to our local health and social care systems – working to improve young people’s mental health, easing the challenge of living with long-term conditions and supporting healthy ageing. Not only will we combine our clinical and research excellence to address these concerns, we will ensure that colleagues’ work is recognised regionally and nationally, helping to attract more talented individuals to our cause.
PROFESSOR DAVID RICHARDSON VICE-CHANCELLOR, UNIVERSITY OF EAST ANGLIA
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Whilst it is important to keep an ambitious vision in place, we have to note the current crisis we face in the COVID-19 pandemic. I am heartened that UEAHSCP was in place to help unite our organisations in this period. The many support projects we were able to undertake resulted from that existing collaboration and a good understanding of the challenges facing our activity. I congratulate all those who have collaborated in the past year and encourage all our colleagues to
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RESEARCH GROUPS
293 RESEARCH GROUP MEMBERS
INVESTMENT MADE: £145.5k FUNDING SECURED: £430.5k FUNDING BIDS SUBMITTED: £7.18M BIDS IN DEVELOPMENT: £9.97M
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OUR PARTNERS EAST OF ENGLAND AMBULANCE SERVICE NHS TRUST (EEAST) Established in 2006, EEAST provides emergency medical services and non-emergency transport services in the counties of Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire, Essex, The Trust serves a population of over six million people and in 2019/2020 alone they received around one million emergency calls and managed over 7% of all of their calls through the Emergency Clinical Advice and Triage system, ensuring that these patients received the right advice and care for their condition, through the best pathway for them. EEAST works closely with all STPs in the East of England to develop and expand innovation schemes. They have innovated in the emergency care sector, through their ‘social workers in the 999-control room’ scheme, which has supported system-wide improvements in the way potential safeguarding concerns raised by crews are handled, through improved pathways, sign posting and information gathering.
EAST SUFFOLK AND NORTH ESSEX NHS FOUNDATION TRUST (ESNEFT) Formed in 2018, ESNEFT provides hospital and community health care services for Colchester, Ipswich and local areas. Their vision as an organisation is to provide local communities with excellent healthcare and build a better future ESNEFT have a leadership and administration structure for research across the Trust. ESNEFT has dedicated research delivery teams in the areas of haematology, cancer, genetics and diabetes.
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JAMES PAGET UNIVERSITY HOSPITALS NHS FOUNDATION TRUST (JPUH) Named after the famed surgeon, the James Paget Hospital opened in 1982 Trust in Norfolk in 2006. The Trust’s priority is always the care provided to after. Continuing to support the 250,000 residents across the Great Yarmouth and Waveney area requires a focus on new ways of working, technology, reducing waste and working sustainably across the health and care system. This will enable the Trust to meet its vision to be outstanding in all that it does. With employer in its local area and their dedicated health care professionals provide a range of acute services and a number of specialised services. JPUH's vision for research 2018-2020 is to meet these three aims: (1) build on JPUH's research sustainability for research activities and (3) to become a leader of research. As part of implementing this strategy, JPUH is committed to achieving one of its central research ambitions, ‘actively participate in innovation, research and partnerships to transform our services’.
NORFOLK COUNTY COUNCIL (NCC) NCC exists to represent and serve the people of Norfolk; to contribute to the County’s growth and prosperity and make Norfolk a great place to live and work. For further details visit www.norfolk.gov.uk. NCC has a range of innovation schemes regarding health and wellbeing currently in place to tackle some of our most pressing concerns as a region. Some of these projects
include In Good Company, a campaign to tackle loneliness, and The Enhanced Fostering Programme, a project designed to support looked after children and young people moving from residential care to a foster home.
NORFOLK COMMUNITY HEALTH AND CARE NHS TRUST (NCH&C) NCH&C provides community based NHS health and care via more than Norfolk. Serving a population of nearly 900,000 people, the Trust delivers community dentistry, services for children, young people and families, therapies, community nursing, end of life care and specialist nursing. NCH&C believes people are better looked after locally, and this belief drives them to work hard to bring expert care to patients in seven community hospitals, within GP surgeries and in their own homes. NCH&C are proud to be the UK’s Trust to achieve an ‘Outstanding’ rating from the Care Quality Commission (CQC). Their focus is on continually improving the quality of care to local people and on improving access to that care, helping people to move seamlessly from one service to another. NCH&C is currently participating in a wide range of commercial and non-commercial studies, including the Parkinson’s Family Project, the RETAKE Study (Return to Work after Stroke) and the CLIMB Study (University of Cambridge NHS Health Data Consent Survey). NCH&C has two dedicated Research Teams (Community Research and Primary Care Research) who support the delivery of all NIHR Portfolio adopted studies, whilst the Head of Research promotes development of local UEA.
TOP LEFT: Hellesdon Hospital, image courtesy of NSFT. TOP LEFT MIDDLE: West Suffolk Hospital in the spring, image courtesy of WSFT. TOP LEFT BOTTOM: Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital, image courtesy of NNUH. TOP RIGHT: Queen Elizabeth Hospital King’s Lynn, image courtesy of QEHKL. BOTTOM: Apprentice EMT group 10 at the Newmarket training centre in December 2019, image courtesy of EEAST.
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NHS IPSWICH AND EAST SUFFOLK, NHS WEST SUFFOLK AND NHS NORTH EAST ESSEX CLINICAL COMMISSIONING GROUPS Clinical Commissioning Groups are UEAHSCP’s lead
are clinically-led health organisations with responsibility for planning and managing most local health care Services commissioned include most hospital care including A&E, community health and mental health services. Both organisations have been rated as “Outstanding” by NHS England for their performance and patient care – a top rating which places them as being among the very best in the country.
NHS NORFOLK AND WAVENEY CLINICAL COMMISSIONING GROUP (NWCCG) NWCCG was launched in April 2020 following the is responsible for the planning and commissioning of health services in our region, serving a population of 1.1 million people with a combined budget for healthcare of £1.6bn. NWCCG is committed to promoting research and ensuring commissioning decisions are based on best Evidence Strategy focuses on: Best Research for Best Health, Reduction of Inequalities, World Class Prevention and Care for Major Health Problems, Supporting People to Age Well, Supporting the Transformation of Services and Development of an Integrated Care System. This year Norfolk and Waveney CCG have supported research developments with UEA in a range of studies, including patient-centred care, the role of community pharmacies, smoking cessation and dementia initiatives. Over recent months NWCCG has worked with UEA to support research applications to the national COVID-19 treatment programmes.
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NORFOLK AND NORWICH UNIVERSITY HOSPITALS NHS FOUNDATION TRUST (NNUH) Founded in 1771, the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital is now a teaching hospital and part of an NHS Foundation Trust which also includes Cromer Hospital on of more than 8,000 providing patients with 1 million outpatient appointments, day case procedures and inpatient admissions each year. ‘To be a centre of excellence for research, education and
a leading role in the Quadram Institute. NNUH is research-focused with particular research excellence in chronic diseases (particularly oncology, gastroenterology, diabetes and muscular skeletal conditions), paediatrics, older peoples’ medicine and platform technologies relating to radiology and advanced imaging, and microbiology. NNUH is part of the Norwich Research Park (NRP) which has an international reputation for research in plant and microbial sciences, interdisciplinary environmental sciences, and food, diet and health.
NORFOLK AND SUFFOLK NHS FOUNDATION TRUST (NSFT) NSFT provides mental health and learning disability wellbeing at the heart of helping service users and carers balance treatments and continuing an active life. The Trust aims to be a national leader of high quality research and innovation and to be in the top quarter of mental health trusts for quality and safety by 2023. The Trust is committed to increasing research capacity and in addition to international mental health studies has developed its own portfolio of young people’s mental health care interventions, adult diagnosis and inclusion and older people carer’s research support. Recently, they have also developed a programme of responsive research to COVID-19 relating to the support for people living with mental health and dementia conditions.
THE QUEEN ELIZABETH HOSPITAL KING’S LYNN NHS FOUNDATION TRUST (QEHKL) Opening in 1980, the QEHKL serves over 331,000 people across Norfolk, Cambridgeshire and Lincolnshire. The Trust is committed to delivering forward-thinking, high-quality services to the community through
The QEHKL have an active research team who support the research and clinical trials that are part of the crucial work done in the NHS. The Trust is currently conducting research in the following areas: acute medicine, anaesthetics, critical care, gastroenterology, haematology, neurology, obstetrics, oncology, orthopaedics, paediatrics, stroke and urology.
UNIVERSITY OF EAST ANGLIA (UEA) UEA is a world-leading research institution which was founded in the spirit of the revolutionary 1960s with the established a reputation for innovation and research that is renowned worldwide. Earlier this year, UEA joined the Civic Universities Network to further commit to its role as a leading voice for the economic, health, social and cultural enrichment of our region. UEA is ranked in the top 200 universities in the world (Times Higher Education World University Rankings 2020) and in the top 25 universities in the UK (The Times/Sunday Times 2020 and Complete University Guide 2020). UEA is ranked 50th in the world for research citations (Times Higher Education World University Rankings 2019). UEA's research makes an impact way beyond their campus, with over 8o% of research being assessed as world-leading or internationally excellent (Research Excellence Framework 2014).
WEST SUFFOLK NHS FOUNDATION TRUST (WSFT) WSFT provides hospital and community healthcare associate teaching hospital of the University of Cambridge. It serves a predominantly rural area and a population of about 300,000 people, with more than Newmarket Community Hospital, it provides community community services across the county. Its core vision is ‘to deliver the best quality and safest care for our community’ and has three main priorities, (1) deliver for and (3) build a joined-up future. WSFT is committed to developing an environment where opportunity to participate in high quality health research. The research and development department delivers 50 to 60 research trials, covering over 20 clinical specialities and recruiting over 1,500 research participants annually.
become the best rural District General Hospital for “Outstanding” by the CQC by 2025.
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THE STORY SO FAR 18 JAN 2019
14 MAY 2019
21 MAY 2019
First investment in partnership research made
Palliative Care Research Group’s First Event
Richard Cattell, Deputy Chief Improvement is keynote speaker research group, Medicines Optimisation Research Group East Anglia (MOG_EA)
13 MAY 2019
15 MAY 2019
22 JULY 2019
MOG_EA toolkit aimed at tackling chronic opioid use in noncancer pain is released. The
UEAHSCP goes public with website and social media channels launch
Deconditioning Research Group
coverage in The Times and GP Online
5 NOVEMBER 2019
6-8 NOVEMBER 2019
16 JANUARY 2020
Childhood Nutrition and Wellbeing Study proves close link between good nutrition and good wellbeing following data analysis of surveys of 8000 Norfolk schoolchildren, helping to advise public health strategy and advice
UEAHSCP supported a Dementia Platform UK Hackathon with the Alan Turing Institute and University of Cambridge to develop ways to predict and diagnose dementia using real world clinical data
MOG_EA had a new publication released in the Journal of Age and Ageing: Development of a hospital deprescribing implementation framework
6 NOVEMBER 2019 GoalPlan training programme launched
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hospital-associated deconditioning
15 NOVEMBER 2019 Young People's Mental Health and Wellbeing Conference
1 SEPTEMBER 2019
19 SEPTEMBER 2019
MOG_EA is awarded £62,000 from EIRA and EAHSN for their ACB Tool
Celebrating Innovation in Interprofessional Practice event
6 SEPTEMBER 2019
21 OCTOBER 2019
MOG_EA Medicines Safety
Work begins in the AMBROSE study, bringing together data sets within the partnership for
main causes of medication errors and recommends improvements to enhance safety outcomes
17 FEBRUARY 2020
23 MARCH 2020
Our Strategic Direction is published and disseminated, outlining our vision for the next two years and our guiding strategic themes: 1. Healthy Ageing 2. Young People’s Memtal Health 3. Living with Long-term Conditions
UK lockdown is announced, UEAHSCP ramps up its key role in COVID-19 projects, coordinating our local response to help establish childcare for key workers, produce hand sanitiser and other PPE
20 JANUARY 2020
19 MARCH 2020
Palliative Care Research Group led a successful grant application for Developing Compassionate Communities, receiving £50,000 from Norfolk and Waveney CCGs to support the development of two Compassionate Communities working groups in the Norfolk and Waveney
First shipment of hand sanitiser for key workers is distributed to the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
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OUR ECONOMIC IMPACT
PARTNERSHIP AREA REST OF UK
2018 I 2019 In 2019, we commissioned an external review of the partnership’s core economic contribution. This allowed us to understand the total research income across the organisations and the economic and research impact of the partnership as a whole.
TOTAL
£3.1bn
DIRECT EMPLOYMENT
45,300
Treasury Green Book value transfer modelling and present the our research contributes economically.
TOTAL
TOTAL
£2bn
£7.5bn
OUR IMPACT IS GREATER THAN EMPLOYMENT IN THE FOLLOWING SECTORS WITHIN THE PARTNERSHIP AREA:
39,800 FTE 80,200 FTE
MANUFACTURING CONSTRUCTION ACCOMMODATION & FOOD PROFESSIONAL, SCIENTIFIC & TECHNICAL ADMINISTRATIVE & SUPPORT PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION & DEFENCE EDUCATION LOGISTICS
FTE JOBS WITHIN PARTNERSHIP
TOTAL INCOME:
£5.2bn
THAT EQUATES TO ENOUGH ADULT SEASON TICKET HOLDERS TO FILL...
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CARROW ROAD STADIUM
267
PORTMAN ROAD STADIUM
OR
TIMES
PLEASE SEE ‘APPENDIX’ FOR EXPLANATION OF KEY TERMS
322 TIMES
RESEARCH & INNOVATION INCOME
One single year of UEAHSCP research and innovation in health and social care will generate the following annual, lifetime
REST OF UK
£62m IN NET HEALTH BENEFITS
PARTNERSHIP AREA
£132m
£1.7m
IN GDP SPILLOVER
IN NET HEALTH BENEFITS
£3.8m IN GDP SPILLOVER
NET HEALTH BENEFITS Improvement to patient care
GDP SPILLOVER
Medical research generating additional economic activity through new products and services Stimulating wider investment in research
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OUR RESEARCH GROUPS
Our collaborative research groups are the driving force behind delivering real change to service users in our region. Bringing together expertise conversations on health and social care.
KEY EAST OF ENGLAND AMBULANCE SERVICE NHS TRUST EAST SUFFOLK AND NORTH ESSEX NHS FOUNDATION TRUST JAMES PAGET UNIVERSITY HOSPITALS NHS FOUNDATION TRUST NHS IPSWICH AND EAST SUFFOLK AND NHS WEST SUFFOLK CCGs NHS NORFOLK & WAVENEY CLINICAL COMMISSIONING GROUP NORFOLK AND NORWICH UNIVERSITY HOSPITALS NHS FOUNDATION TRUST NORFOLK AND SUFFOLK NHS FOUNDATION TRUST NORFOLK COMMUNITY HEALTH AND CARE NHS TRUST NORFOLK COUNTY COUNCIL THE QUEEN ELIZABETH KING’S LYNN HOSPITAL NHS FOUNDATION TRUST UNIVERSITY OF EAST ANGLIA WEST SUFFOLK NHS FOUNDATION TRUST
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CHANGING BEHAVIOUR AND IMPLEMENTING BEST PRACTICE
UEA
WS
ImpACT GROUP
NSFT
UEA
WS
Many pr well-being, including the COVID-19 pandemic, require behaviour change of the public, patients and health and care practitioners. The research group, headed by Dr Wendy Hardeman of UEA’s School of Health Sciences, uses evidence and methods from behavioural and implementation science to promote health and wellbeing and the routine delivery of evidence-based practice.
Imagining Potential Across Complex Teams (ImpACT) is a newly formed research group combining the expertise of international practice developers and implementation scientists from the UK, Europe and Australasia working in
Behavioural science is concerned with any public health issue, condition, treatment or delivery of health and social care where behaviour ects health and well-being. Implementation science investigates the routine delivery of evidence-based practice in order to better understand or address evidence-to-practice gaps across healthcare services and settings.
In recent years, the public sector has been expected to transform ways of working to better meet need whilst at
Behavioural and implementation science have never been more important, Dr Hardeman says: “Behaviour change is key to addressing the COVID-19 pandemic and its impact on physical and mental health, and rapid translation of research evidence into health and social care and policy is essential in these fast-changing times” The group addresses two imminent problems at the regional, national and international level. First, they seek to tackle behavioural risk factors (such as smoking, physical inactivity, poor diet or excessive alcohol consumption) that contribute to around one-third of the total UK burden of disease, and to examine the impact of the pandemic response, e.g., lockdown, on health behaviours. Secondly, they will challenge the failure to implement evidence-based practices into (clinical) practice and policy.
integrated approach to quality improvement through collaborative research, practice development, innovation and workplace learning initiatives at a regional, national and international level.
and systems leadership can be engaged to optimise delivery at many levels of population health is now a staple consideration for those grappling with strategic transformation. collaboratively with regional health and social care commissioners and providers to co-create a programme of initiatives that help plan for COVID-19 recovery. ImpACT is led by Professor Sally Hardy, Dean of Health Sciences at UEA and Professor of Mental Health and new appointments of a Director for Practice Transformation and two Professors in Practice Development as Co-Directors, with specialist expertise in systems transformation, service redesign and evaluation, quality improvement, innovation and practice development. The team have extensive research experience and a track record of attracting funding for projects in the UK and internationally. Their time will be split between consultancy services and research programmes. Partnership projects will be able to draw on evaluation and transformation expertise whilst contracts for external clients will help fund the work of the group. This work is supported by Health Education England and the associate organisations involved in this group are: Federation University Victoria Australia and the University of Applied Sciences Osnabrüeck Germany.
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already begun to establish its presence as a regional centre of excellence in the area of Medicines Optimisation. The group is led by Professor David Wright, Professor of Pharmacy Practice at UEA and Deputy Chair Nicola Berns, Divisional Director Clinical Support Services and Chief Pharmacist at The Queen Elizabeth Hospital King’s Lynn NHS Foundation Trust and its diverse membership includes representation from members of the public. David sees great sure that medicines are used optimally - the only way we can do that is to use research to inform decisions that we make. By bringing people together, we come up with something that's far more likely to be successful".
the 2020, MOG_EA had grown into a vibrant community with a number of major projects underway. Associate organisations involved in this group: Eastern Academic Health Science Network, East Anglia Medicines Information Service, East Coast Community Healthcare CIC, NHS Arden and Greater East Midlands Commissioning Support Unit, PrescQIPP.
Development of an app-based anticholinergic burden (ACB) tool MOG_EA have begun work to develop an ACB tool following a grant of £62k from EIRA and EAHSN. ACB is a challenge in people with multimorbidities, and especially older people. Anticholinergic medicines are thought to lead to cognitive impairment and recent evidence suggests they contribute to falls as well as increased mortality. This collaborative research between MOG_EA, EAHSN and the University of Kent aims to provide prescribers with reliable, evidence-based tools to help them understand and manage ACB, leading to improved care, less complications and reduced admissions.
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Pharmacogenomics (PGx) project This research looks at MOG_EA’s work in the area of personalised medicines use and acceptance. The pilot study explores whether and how DNA cheek swabs can be introduced to health services to optimise prescribing for more The resultant MyDNA clinical pathways development trial started in March 2020 across primary and secondary care partner organisations in Norfolk and
and includes around 30 service users to ensure a strong patient voice is heard. Participants provide a simple cheek swab, the results of which inform the prescriber as to whether the medicine and dose are most appropriate for that patient.
Journal Publication UEAHSCP publication in November 2019 with ‘Development of a hospital deprescribing implementation framework: A focus group study with geriatricians and pharmacists’. The paper, authored by a number of MOG_EA members, including Dr Sion Scott, Dr Martyn Patel, Prof David Wright and Dr Debi Bhattacharya, was published in ‘Age and Ageing’ journal, and introduces the concept of a hospital deprescribing implementation framework. The elements of this evidence-based framework can be utilised to develop a tailored deprescribing intervention within a local hospital context. This work comes as a result of a close collaboration between NNUH clinicians and UEA academics. The article was referenced more than 70 times on twitter and the article was viewed over 1,440 times.
WORKING IN SUCH CLOSE PARTNERSHIP THROUGH MOG_EA IS ALREADY REALISING CONCRETE BENEFITS FOR PATIENTS, HEALTHCARE PROFESSIONALS AND OUR MEDICINES OPTIMISATION RESEARCHERS Dr Martyn Patel, Consultant in Older People’s Medicine, Norfolk and Norwich University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and member of MOG_EA
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MOG_EA
LAUNCH OF A UNIQUE TOOLKIT TO REDUCE OPIOID USE According to NHS England, opioids are recognised as good analgesics for acute and end of life pain but there is little evidence that they are helpful for long-term pain. Despite this, they are widely prescribed for this reason. Findings in a recent study in The Lancet showed that opioid prescribing more than doubled in the period 1998 to 2018. Locally, people in Great Yarmouth and Waveney are more likely to be prescribed highly-addictive drugs like morphine, tramadol and fentanyl than elsewhere in the country. Higher rates of prescribing are often associated with smoking, obesity and mental health conditions, and in severe cases can lead to addiction and death. Medicines Optimisation Group East Anglia (MOG_EA) launched the innovative Toolkit for Tackling Chronic Opioid Use in Non-Cancer Pain in May 2019, helping GPs to reduce the amount of opioids they prescribe. The toolkit outlines seven best practice areas to help GPs and other health practitioners tackle chronic patient opioid use, including guidance on interventions for gradual drug tapering and better Combining international research evidence and the experiences of health organisations and individual practitioners, the free toolkit has had over 1,400 downloads. If fully implemented, the toolkit has the potential to reduce non-cancer service users and the cost of delivery. Lead Researcher and MOG_EA member Dr Debi Bhattacharya, from UEA’s School of Pharmacy, urged that GPs must be better-equipped to support patients to manage the psychological challenge of reducing their opioid use. UEA researchers concluded that the responsibility of opioid de-prescribing needs to be with prescribers and that prescription monitoring and regulation to ensure appropriate use of medical opioids is critical. “Without this training, prescribers are reticent to open a "can of worms" that they know they don't have the skills to
UEAHSCP Managing Director Mark Hitchcock said: “We are delighted by the that group members feel is generated from working in this way. Helping to obtained through collaboration of the world-class clinicians and researchers we have in our region.” The ‘Toolkit for Tackling Chronic Opioid Use in Non-Cancer Pain’ is available on the UEA website. It has been supported by NIHR CLAHRC Eastern.
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Dr Debi Bhattacharya
Lead Researcher and MOG_EA Member Senior Lecturer in Pharmacy Practice, UEA School of Pharmacy
21 Dr Bhattacharya at the MOG_EA launch where they unveiled the new opioid toolkit. Š Steve Wright Photography
Medicines Safety Initial Scoping Project Summer Studentships MOG_EA hosted two summer studentships to review current medicine resources and practices in secondary care settings with an aim of reducing medicines administration errors. The project grew to include interviews with pharmacy departments, nursing and education at the causes of the critical medicine errors and general medication administration errors, at
Some of the key recommendations on successful interventions included: Inter-professional meetings between pharmacy and nursing Development of standardised when transferring trusts easy access resources Encouraging self-administration of medication, clocks and timers for critical medicines. The Medicines Safety Project, currently in development, will build on this valuable work by supporting safe self-administration of medicines by patients in secondary care.
Research Capacity Funding Looking to the future, MOG_EA has been awarded ÂŁ78k by NHS Norfolk and Waveney CCG and the Applied Research Collaborations (ARCs) to support the development of a set of grant applications. deprescribing of opioids, urinary anticholinergics, hypnotics and z-drugs, as well as promoting safe deprescribing strategies within care home and hospital settings and utilising big data for medicines optimisation.
could be transferrable across the region.
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LEFT TO RIGHT: Mr Richard Cattell, Deputy Chief Pharmaceutical Officer for NHS Improvement; Dr George Savva, Statistician, Quadram Institute; Mr Sion Scott, School of Pharmacy, UEA; Dr Martyn Patel, Consultant Geriatrician and Service Director Older People’s Medicine, NNUH. Prof David Wright, School of Pharmacy, UEA; Dr Debi Bhattacharya, School of Pharmacy, UEA.
FRAILTY GROUP
wellbeing and independence, leads to increasing disability. It has a large impact on health outcomes, increased risk of mortality and increased use of health and social care services. It is important to detect frail individuals early and to delay frailty where possible. to reduce or prevent avoidable hospital admissions or readmission and poor health outcomes. Led by Professor Chris Fox of Norwich Medical School, the Frailty Research Group looks at many aspects of frailty and older age. The group works to understand how using routine NHS data, health and social care
coordinate an integrated response which supports and manages patients and carers safely in the community through crises, using the most appropriate and proportionate level of intervention. The group evaluated NEAT by analysing data from a year of operations in Norwich and interviewing a range of stakeholders. Overall, the evaluation showed strong support for the service across stakeholders and the analysis has integration.
people, people living with frailty or dementia and their carers. They aim to identify and develop service innovation in East Anglia and to develop interventions to support older people to maintain active, safe and healthy independence. The Group’s AmbROSE (Ambulance Response and Outcomes Service Evaluation) study was launched in 2019 to look at the issues surrounding decision-making around conveyance of older people to hospital. The project linked NHS ambulance and hospital datasets to describe the demographics of elderly patients to compare activity by time of day and location. The the older people in particular. AmbROSE sits comfortably beside a number of other projects within the group that look at how people can be supported to live independently and only access acute services when necessary. The safe avoidance of unnecessary hospital admission and the system. Norfolk’s innovative Network of Escalation Avoidance Teams (NEAT) works to ensure just that by providing a single point of referral in parts of Norfolk for service users who need urgent, unplanned health or social care support. NEAT ensures relevant support is tailored for individual needs, enabling them to stay safe and independent in their own home.
Image courtesy of NEAT.
Additionally, when older people do attend the emergency department, care delivery is often diagnose, complicated by a range of health problems and medicines, and made more challenging to communicate by the busy ED environment. In response to these issues, Norfolk and Norwich University People’s Emergency Department (OPED) in the UK in older people. The group compared routinely collected emergency department data from before and after study and will be used to support recommendations for emergency care of older people in hospital including space, noise levels and importantly a revised approach to waiting times and priority management. Looking to the future there are new projects for carers and COVID-19 recovery in care homes which are expected to go live in the next 6-12 months.
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CONCUSSION ACTION PROGRAMME JP
NN
NCHC
QE
UEA
The Concussion Action Programme (CAP) are a highly collaborative team who raise awareness of concussion and aim to reduce the risks related to concussion in athletes and school children by facilitating concussion research and working with local clubs to improve schools and concussion awareness in addition to creating CPD opportunities for health professionals. Concussion is a form of mild traumatic brain injury that can often be overlooked and develop into postconcussion syndrome if a person who has suffered concussion receives improper provisions or information. As such, CAP are currently determining the extent of the problem in our region by mapping our current concussion provisions to ascertain er from organisation to how they organisation. The project will lead to the development and distribution of accessible and tailored post-concussion guidelines and advice for Grey says one of the main problems with advice on concussion advice is lack of consistency: “one of the challenges in our current system is that depending on where people go for treatment, they receive We're working with local NHS Trusts and charities to develop a consistent message for what people need to do when they are diagnosed with concussion.” The collaborative and community-driven basis of CAP’s research culture will allow the group to develop a competency-based
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behavioural curriculum for a schools-based concussion management programme to combat post-concussion syndrome in children slipping through the gaps. CAP is also tackling one of the most debated topics in football. Concussion in contact sports are one of the most common injuries and repetitive sub-concussive impacts are believed to lead to early neurodegeneration. CAP has launched the SCORES , which you read more about on the following pages to investigate the extent to which former professional footballers show signs of early neurodegeneration compared with active adults over 40. Led by Dr Michael Grey from UEA’s School of Health Sciences, membership in CAP includes wide ranging representation from partner and associate organisations and researchers from other UEAHSCP research groups too; Deconditioning Group research lead Dr Sarah Hanson is one of the SCORES study leads. Dr Hanson said “I am really pleased to be working with Michael on the SCORES project - and not just because I am a Norwich City fan! I am leading on the qualitative component of the project to better understand the broader contextual issues around ABI from an athlete’s point of view. Michael and I are also working with the Howard League for Penal Reform, where I am member of their research advisory group, to develop a harm reduction intervention for women around brain injury an
Research Grants Advisor Helen Hall is a CAP member representing James Paget University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust. Helen says she values the extensive ben ts CAP brings to her research: “The pa organisations, who would not normally have a chance to sit together at the same table to meet regularly and to prioritize areas of research which we all are interested in to ultimately b patients and to provide better care outcomes”. Looking ahead, CAP has recently begun an ambitious project looking at the prevalence of brain injury in women in the prison s identi cation measure for head injuries and personalised rehabilitation for women. The project is looking to develop a digitized screening toolkit to identify and assess brain injury before women enter the prison system, and work with Neuro/clinical psychologists to co-produce training manuals to better tr gua brain injury impact. Associate organisations in this group are: Active Norfolk, Norfolk and Waveney Acquired Brain Injury Network (NWABI), UK Acquired Brain Injury Forum (UKABIF) and UEA Sportspark.
“THE PARTNERSHIP IS AN EFFICIENT MECHANISM TO GET INTERESTED NHS TRUST EMPLOYEES AND UEA ACADEMICS IN THE SAME ROOM POOLING THEIR KNOWLEDGE TO TURN GOOD IDEAS INTO FUNDABLE RESEARCH PROJECTS”. DR MICHAEL GREY Reader in Rehabilitation Neuroscience, School of Health Sciences, University of East Anglia
LEFT TO RIGHT: Lecturer in Health Sciences and SCORES researcher Dr Sarah Hanson, Former Wales and Norwich City Footballers Iwan Roberts and Jeremy Goss, SCORES Research lead Dr Michael Grey
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CO NCUSSION
ACTION
PROGRAMME
from serious and life-limiting neurological diseases than the general population; they are around e times as likely to be diagnosed with Alzheimer’s, four times as likely to be diagnosed with motor neurone disease and two times as likely to be diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease . With this in mind, Lead researcher Dr Michael Grey, from UEA’s School of Health Sciences, launched a trail blazing research project to better understand the cognitive health of former professional football players as they age and whether there is a connection between heading footballs and dementia later in life. The research tests former players for early signs of the disease by screening participants for indicators of cognative dysfunction that may be apparent long before the onset of more recognisable symptoms of dementia, such as memory loss. Dr Grey said: “We now know that there is much higher risk of dementia in former professional footballers, and we think this is related to repetitive heading of the ball. We do not know if this extends to the amateur level. We need further studies like the SCORES study to understand cognitive health in former players. So there will be many footballers out there who are understandably very worried about their futures. “We will be working with former professional players to investigate and track their brain health over time. We hope to follow these footballers for the rest of their lives. This is th rst time that this type of research has been done,” he added. The SCORES roject has already drawn extensive support of several high-p l players including former Welsh and Norwich City Professional Footballers Iwan Roberts and Jeremy Goss. The SCORES project and research activities led by Dr Grey’s Concussion Action Programme is also supported by Dawn Astle of in memory of her father, a former England footballer who died aged 59; his death was ruled to be partly due to degenerative brain disease cause by heading footballs. The foundation aims to raise awareness of brain injury in all forms of sport, and UEAHSCP is grateful for Dawn’s support of this important study. ibute to national sports policy and has The study has the potential to signi gained considerable attention upon launch. To date, the project has been featured in 2 documentaries and over 500 articles across some of the most widely read publications in the UK and internationally: BBC News, The Guardian, CNN, The Telegraph, The Times, Reuters, ITV and The Daily Mail. The study will study retired footballers and active adults over 40, both men and women; research began in the East of England in the summer of 2020 and will be expanded nationally later this year.
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WE NEED FURTHER STUDIES LIKE THE SCORES PROJECT TO UNDER S TA N D COGNITIVE HEALTH IN FORMER P L AY E R S DR MICHAEL GREY
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WORKFORCE SUSTAINABILITY GROUP
The Workforce Sustainability research group explores ways to promote a healthy and mentally healthy workplace for patient outcomes. Emerging health and delivery innovations need a workforce that feels empowered to embrace and apply those innovainherently stressful for many. Clinical roles are changing and the expected growth of new support roles brings much opportunity but also risk of increased demand and increased work stress. The group aims to produce new evidence to meet these challenges, and explore ways to translate existing evidence into practice. Presently, the group is working on two major areas of activity: An analysis of novel methods for supporting the health and wellbeing of new recruits to the health and social care sectors; Developing a large-scale research study to explore value and impact of mindfulness training programmes. In response to COVID-19 the group are supporting workUndertaking a rapid systematic review to understand how to support the wellbeing of health and social care higher rate of patient death and a changed manner of death (no or reduced family contact, providing end of life care in full PPE); wellbeing (funded by Health Education England and led by Yorkshire Ambulance Service) to capture the
ambulance sector; Translating the evidence on how to reduce risk of invitation to Prof Sanderson to join a national working
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group commissioned by the Chief Allied Professions England/Improvement and Public Health England. Research Group Lead Prof Kristy Sanderson has been leading thinking on workforce development and innovation presentations on the theme of sleep, fatigue and wellbeing to several audiences including: Chaired a research priorities co-production event for the region on mindfulness and compassion-based approaches jointly hosted by NIHR ARC EoE and UEAHSCP; Facilitated an invited workshop “A good night’s (day’s) sleep in the 24/7 NHS workforce: is anyone getting it and what can your Trust do about it?” for the inaugural and NHS Employers, also delivered locally for partners; Interviewed for a podcast by the Chartered Institute for Ergonomics and Human Factors to provide during a pandemic where changing working hours, Produced some brief videos for the Police Federation to highlight the importance of good sleep for the mental health of police and other emergency service workforces. Workforce Sustainability released a new publication umbrella of UEAHSCP research activity, in the Journal of Research in Nursing: Perspectives: Getting to the heart of workforce wellbeing in health and social care: from personal practice to organisational change The authors Kristy Sanderson and Jennifer Dawe also led an online conversation hosted by the journal to engage with the public and start an online conversation about mental health interventions and resources. Looking ahead, the research group are exploring intervention options in the workplace for supportive practices for women experiencing menopause and involving families of workers in supportive health practices.
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HOSPITAL-ASSOCIATED DECONDITIONING GROUP
Hospital-Associated Deconditioning (HAD) refers to the functional decline attributed to prolonged periods of immobility during hospitalisation. Unfortunately, this phenomenon is common, particularly among older people who have reduced physiological and functional reserves. This complex condition has serious implications for a patient’s recovery and discharge planning in the acute sector, community settings and social care. The East of England Hospital-Associated Deconditioning Group’s purpose is to explore interventions for HAD across the patient pathway that are workable and appropriate for patients, their families, proposals to test at trial. Research group lead Dr Sarah Hanson from the UEA School of Health Sciences led a paper synthesising the current evidence, risk factors and appropriate interventions for HAD in older people admitted to acute care and a Systematic Review on enhanced in-hospital based interventions. These reviews show that enhanced in-patient programmes to reduce HAD can reduce the risk of declining activities of daily living ability, reduce nursing home residence and reduce one-month mortality post discharge. Introducing practical interventions around reducing sedentary behaviour such as activity pacing, appropriate goal setting, supporting patients (with their families and carers) to be more functionally mobile, and modifying the hospital environment to facilitate activities based around socialising can all reduce HAD.
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t impact HAD syndromes have a particularly on the wellbeing and life quality of older people and their families as well as the unnecessary costs on NHS and social care services due to delayed discharge and readmission. Dr Hanson’s work highlights the importance of understanding a patient’s existing risk factors on admission and the level of mobility that is important to them: “Our evidence indicates that an integrated, patient-centred approach supported by a local champion may promote mobility on a ward and reduce HAD as well as hospital length of stay”. Dr Hanson has also introduced Prof Cynthia Brown from the University of Alabama to the group to share her expertise from the USA. A grant application to NIHR will be submitted this year with NNUH, ,W and NCH C as collaborators in a feasibility study. Sarah Hanson has joined a project steering board at NNUH to support their initiatives in tackling HAD. Associate organisations involved in this group are: Active Norfolk.
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PARENTAL & CHILDHOOD OBESITY EARLY PREVENTION GROUP
Led by Norfolk County Council, the Parental and Childhood Obesity Early Prevention Group was maternal, paternal and early childhood obesity. The services and community support available to families during and after pregnancy. This system wide review of advice on healthy weight for parents and children
weight across the family and community, building sustainable and innovative solutions that meet user needs. Associate organisations involved in the group are Active Norfolk, C3 Collaborating for Health, Fatherhood Institute, Healthwatch, Norfolk Healthy Child Programme (Cambridgeshire Community Services), Norwich City Council, Slimming World and
improve understanding of voluntary support. Research group co-lead Sarah Barnes values the unique opportunity to collaborate: “the partnership across the region to give us a central purpose to be able to deliver the outcomes that we're looking for”. Initial research saw researchers visiting communities informal conversations with community stakeholders and gathering data on community opinion, initiatives and support. Further work looks to create community asset registers and provide evidence-based recommendations for a pilot project. This work will community initiatives for tackling maternal and early childhood obesity, as well as addressing issues of health inequalities leading to the development of county wide policy with guiding principles to support development of the whole systems approach locally. Looking ahead, the group will collaborate with C3 Collaborating for Health to use the CHESS tool (Community Health Engagement Survey Solutions) to embark on the next phase of engaging communities and gathering valuable contextual information. This work will help to better understand barriers that prevent communities from living healthy lifestyles, and to create interventions and projects that will enable parents and children to take control of their health and wellbeing. This collaboration will inform the design of a whole systems approach for improving parental and early childhood (0-5 years old) health and wellbeing by promoting and enabling healthy
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“OBESITY IS A COMPLEX ISSUE THAT REQUIRES A WHOLE SYSTEM APPROACH. THERE IS AN ASSOCIATION BETWEEN AN OVERWEIGHT MOTHER-TO-BE, HER CHILD’S BIRTH WEIGHT AND THE CHILD’S LATER RISK OF OBESITY. HELPING WOMEN MAINTAIN A HEALTHY WEIGHT DURING AND AFTER PREGNANCY IS A PRIME OPPORTUNITY TO BREAK A POTENTIALLY VICIOUS CYCLE OF OBESITY ACROSS GENERATIONS BY GIVING BABIES THE BEST START IN LIFE”.
DR SARA KARRAR ADVANCED PUBLIC HEALTH OFFICER, SEXUAL & REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH, CHILDREN & YOUNG PEOPLE NORFOLK COUNTY COUNCIL RESEARCH CO-LEAD
PALLIATIVE CARE GROUP
ONS data suggests the number of inhabitants in 65 is projected to increase by over 135,000 between 2018 and 2035. It is estimated that by 2040, 75% of palliative care. To face these ongoing challenges we will require unprecedented workforce expansion and those responsible for delivering palliative and end of life (EOL) care must adapt. Led by Dr Guy Peryer, the Palliative Care research group formed to support the increasing need for services and community led solutions in palliative care in our region. The group's main aims are to improve community-based palliative and EOL care in the Eastern region; to design suitable workforce training packages for non-specialists in the provision of person-centred palliative care; to identify clear technical assistance for system integration design and provide targeted evaluation of implementation strategies for expanding community provision of palliative and EOL care. Key amongst this strategy is a focus on Compassionate Communities, the concept of community action to raise awareness of the dying, death and bereavement. Communities event, opened by keynote speaker and leading researcher Professor Allan Kellehear. Norfolk and Waveney CCG awarded funding in March 2020 to develop a Compassionate Community network to support social changes across the county. Dr Peryer also delivered the keynote address about the Compassionate Communities approach and the Civic Charter at the opening of the Pear Tree Centre in been diagnosed with a life-changing illness.
Community by supporting community stakeholders, and developing a new public health approach to palliative and EOL care. The group’s Continuity project explores the support for end-of-life patients’ choice to return home from hospital and the possibility of extending care from the hospital to home and the community. The group have established excellent links across the region and have been acknowledged in two key strategic documents: Norfolk and Waveney Sustainability and Transformation Partnership (STP) Palliative and End of Life Care Strategy 2019-2024 Peryer was also appointed as co-lead of “Each Community is Prepared to Help” work package in Norfolk and Waveney STP. Dr Peryer’s close ties with the St Nicholas Hospice increased research collaborations for the group in the community. Dr Barbara Gale MBE, CEO of St Nicholas Hospice, is a supporter of the partnership. St Elizabeth Compassionate Community approach and the group will support this work. Associate organisations involved in the group are: East Coast Community Healthcare, Louise Hamilton Centre, Norfolk and Waveney STP Palliative and End of Life Collaborative, the Royal Society of the Arts, St Elizabeth Hospice, St Nicholas and West Norfolk Hospice. Looking ahead, the group will continue their close engagement with service users by holding service evaluation workshops to better understand how identify wider service improvement.
The group are looking to build upon this momentum and make further steps towards a Compassionate
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LEFT TO RIGHT: Mr Richard Cattell, Deputy Chief Pharmaceutical Officer for NHS Improvement; Dr George Savva, Statistician, Quadram Dr Simon Hammond at the UEAHSCP Young People’s Mental Health Conference 2019, © Steve Wright Photography NNUH. Prof David Wright, School of Pharmacy, UEA; Dr Debi Bhattacharya, School of Pharmacy, UEA.
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LANTERN LOOKED AFTER CHILDREN’S MENTAL HEALTH RESEARCH NETWORK
As part of last year’s Young People’s Mental Health and Wellbeing Conference led by Norfolk and Foundation Trust (NSFT), the artnership conducted interactive workshops where conference delegates were asked to create a research group concept around an aspect of young people’s mental health. The Looked After Children’s Mental Health Research Network
sessions from the highly experienced team of supervising social workers, assistant practitioner, a clinical psychologist provided by NSFT and team manager. This allows the foster carers to gain a high supervision, specialist training and developing of their
Dr Simon P Hammond, Lecturer in Education in the UEA School of Education and Lifelong Learning, the group’s primary aim is to make this region the healthiest place to be for a child who is looked after.
aims to demonstrate improvements in a range of individual and system outcomes and provide vital evidence to support the sustainability and development of the programme in the region.
Children and young people who are looked after can face many more mental health and emotional well-being challenges in comparison to their peers. As a group, they are at heightened risk of experiencing relational trauma, emotional, behavioural and educational
The group’s immediate aims are “to improve the guidance available to young people who are looked after, and those who support them, to facilitate positive mental health. The needs of those with pre-existing mental ill-health are likely y the pandemic, so supporting this group, and those who care for them, will be even more critical over the coming weeks and months”
than 45% of looked after populations have a diagnosable conservative estimate. Like the national picture of mental health for children and young people, our region has overstretched services which often react to ‘crises’ instead of implementing early iden measures. LANTERN are aiming to produce accessible sychological nterventions for young people living in care. The group will work together to assist young people, and their carers, to better identify and support their emotional wellbeing and mental health needs. Researchers are also investigating how Norfolk’s Enhanced Fostering Service programme, run by Norfolk County Council Fostering Service, supports young people who are ready to move from a residential home to a stable foster home successfully for a minimum of at least one year. These young people have all experienced multiple foster placement breakdowns prior to a period of stability in a residential home. The service works alongside the residential home and allocated social work ostering family and then supports prior, during and after the introduction period and moving in.
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NUTRITION GROUP
living with long-term conditions. Low income, social isolation and limited mobility can also increase the risk of becoming malnourished. Led by Professor Alastair Forbes, Clinical Professor in Medicine and Director of Clinical Research at Norwich and Medical School, the group’s core research malnutrition more generally.
targeted for testing of their vitamin D levels. The group’s long-term goal is to produce the evidence to change practice at a national level by making it easier to identify vitamin D prevent avoidable complications through timely treatment. Looking ahead, the group is also considering conducting research around whether vitamin D can reduce serious COVID-19 complications. Malnutrition is common in all healthcare settings and is present in 30% of people admitted to hospital, leading to a expensive and longer duration of stay. However, it is often recognised late and at a stage that is too advanced to be reversed by simple measures. Screening tools exist but are found . The di group plans a regional review of why this is. The researchers aim to identify an alternative to conventional nutrition risk screening, such as which can help to bridge current gaps in the system. Through earlier iden earlier clinical intervention, it will help to reduce its associated morbidity, reduce the rate of hospital admission and shorten the duration of stay in those who still require in-patient care. The group’s research will then utilise locally relevant objective data to guide research into providing simpler alternatives - ideally based on information that is already routinely recorded but not used for this purpose. In the longer-term, the group look to devise therapeutic interventions focused on medium-risk populations (such as middle-aged adults) aiming to improve nutritional status and reduce associated future morbidity.
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TRAINING GPs TO SET H E A LT H A N D W E L L B E I N G GOALS WITH PATIENTS:
GOALPLAN
Analysis by the Health Foundation shows that that one in four people in the UK are living with two or more physical or mental health conditions, with pain and depression common across all ages. People with multiple conditions often have poorer quality of life, greater risk of premature death, and may need substantial NHS support. An individual patient with multiple chronic conditions may not be well served by single-disease guidelines; for clinicians to address all of their issues. Over 170 health professionals signed up for health and wellbeing goals in partnership with patients. Launched in November 2019, the training directly prioritises patient care and speaks to key NHS priorities of self-management and patient activation. Delivered via the FutureLearn platform, the training course is accredited by the Royal College of General Practitioners and can be utilised to train professionals in all health services. The course is designed for GPs at any stage of their careers but is accessible to all clinicians working with patients, particularly in the primary care setting. GoalPlan encourages GPs to put Goal Setting principles into practice as part of embedded learning. This follows National Institute for Health and Care Excellent (NICE) guidelines on multimorbidity recommendations to establish patient goals, values and priorities and is an innovative way for doctors and patients to learn about goal setting in treating multimorbidity. Dr Alice Shiner, GP Partner, Research Fellow and Honorary Senior Lecturer at UEA and member of the GoalPlan project team says th approach
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satisfying for GPs too. I personally believe that it is vital to listen to what is most important to patients, empowering them to try to achieve key goals in their lives" This project stems from prior research undertaken by Dr Nick Steel of Norwich Medical School that found that if GPs and patients work together to set health goals, it could improve outcomes for one in four people in the UK who are living with multiple health conditions. The study, published in the British Journal of General Practice, BMJ Open, and Social Science and Medicine found that patients with two or more long-term health conditions found it useful to be involved in their own care, out what matters to patients: ‘using goal setting allows patients’ voices to be heard above the noise of busy clinical practice and guideline driven care’.
the study. They also found that by setting clear goals, patients felt more prepared with a proactive action plan for their health. The GoalPlan project group are looking to repurpose the curriculum of GoalPlan from primary care to acute care. For more information about the course, visit FutureLearn.
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I N T E R N AT I O N A L W O M E N ’ S D AY HIGHLIGHTING REGIONAL LEADERS TACKLING HEALTH INEQUALITY
Dr Sara Karrar, NCC
International Women’s Day (IWD), held annually on 8 March, is a global day of celebration of women and their achievements. The day also provides an opportunity to highlight some of the remaining inequalities between women and men in many spheres of public and private life. As a signal of our commitment to gender and health equality, UEAHSCP ran an online campaign celebrating IWD 2020 to showcase the work of prominent female researchers and leaders across our artnership; it was also a chance to more broadly highlight the important research into health inequalities across our partner organisations. The campaign featured 14 leading women from 8 partner organisations and received excellent engagement from our online audience and garnered focus on some of our core key research activity that links in with health inequalities such as healthy ag ing, parental and child obesity prevention and improving access to mental health and wellbeing services.
Nicola Cottington, JPUH
connection between maternal obesity and vulnerable groups and how important the early years of development are in reducing health inequalities: “Maternal obesity is more common in deprived and vulnerable groups. There is growing evidence that obesity is associated with increased morbidity and mortality for both mother and baby. Being overweight inequalities in health. An obese child is more likely to become an obese adult – the early years of life are key to reducing health inequalities”. Alongside Sarah Barnes, Dr Karrar is co-lead of our Parental & Childhood Obesity Early Prevention Research Group. Sara is helping to explore interventions and and childhood obesity, particularly around issues of health inequalities.
NHS Foundation Trust emphasized the importance of increasing opportunities for young people in particular to get involved in research in order to support and maintain their mental health and wellbeing. Head of Research Dr Bonnie Teague underscored the importance of Dr Sara Karrar, Advanced Public Health designing mental health research which O cer from Norfolk County Council, is needs-led and accessible in order took the opportunity to highlight the achieve equal health outcomes for all
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Sarah Barnes, NCC
communities. International Women’s Day allowed us to prominently position UEAHSCP as a regional research leader tackling health inequ ity activity increase general public awareness.
14 WOMEN PROFILED
8 PARTNERS FEATURED
10% FOLLOWER INCREASE TO UEAHSCP TWITTER PROFILE
23,600 VIEWS ON SOCIAL MEDIA
PA R ENTA L
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EARLY OBES ITY PREVENTIO N
GRO UP
STUDY INTO CHILDHOOD NUTRITION AND WELLBEING AMONG SCHOOL AGED CHILDREN UEAHSCP analysis of responses of Key outputs of the project included: over 8,500 children to the Childhood Nutrition and Wellbeing study has the The creation of a validation process to clean and standardize advice across the region and beyond. entries allowed to expand usable dataset from circa 3,000 to over A collaborative project between UEA 8,000 validated responses; researchers and Norfolk County Council Public Health experts, the A rigorous approach to testing study examined survey data from the association between nutrition over 50 schools aiming to determine and wellbeing, enabling more whether dietary habits of Norfolk accurate simulation of the ‘real school children are associated with life’ situation; their wellbeing. UEAHSCP support helped to demonstrate a strong A report in November 2019 association between nutritional variables and wellbeing scores, with to inform public health practice; higher fruit and vegetable consumption and meal choice at Future plans to publish a peer breakfast and at lunch being key review paper of the study in a 3 factors associated with higher journal, to maximise academic wellbeing. impact and the Partnership’s reputation. The study builds on an initial analysis of the 2017 Norfolk Children and Young People’s Health and Wellbeing survey commissioned by the Norfolk County Council and the Norfolk Safeguarding Children Board.
Data analysis demonstrated that replacing breakfast with an energy drink, a breakfast bar or missing the meal completely, all reduced the child's sense of wellbeing. Conversely, those e portions of fruit and vegetables enjoyed much higher levels of wellbeing.
The strong association of meal choices with wellbeing scores, in both primary and secondary school pupils, suggests that ensuring adequate nutrition for schoolchildren could be important in public health strategies to optimise wellbeing.
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ATTENDEES
GUEST SPEAKERS
ORGANISATIONS IN ATTENDANCE
SERVICE USER SPEAKERS
PROJECT CONCEPTS
VIEWS ON SOCIAL MEDIA
LEFT TO RIGHT: Vice-Chanellor Prof David Richardson introducing the video address from Stephen Fry. Rt Hon Sir Norman Lamb delivering a speech at the Conference
Stephen Fry and the Duke of Sussex were among the supporters of the Young People’s Mental Health and Wellbeing Conference hosted by UEA Health and Social Care Partners in November 2019. The highly successful
“UEA Health and Social Care Partners is a brilliant initiative […] Here we have a centre of excellence and I think it is exactly what a university should be doing – working together with local partners to drive change. f we can bring the great minds in this institution together with the people
professionals representing more than 100 organisations from clinical, academic, education, public and voluntary sectors.
the young people in this region”.
Stephen Fry opened the conference with a welcome video while The Duke of Sussex sent a letter of support, which Vice-Chancellor David Richardson read out to the attendees. Delegates took the opportunity to network and share ideas together and heard from guest speakers including former MP for North Norfolk Rt Hon Sir Norman Lamb, a mental health services advocate and supporter of the partnership’s work. Sir Norman Lamb spoke passionately about the need for Partnership can make in the region:
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The event captured the voices of young service user representatives and the volun ary sector. Among the speakers was young service user Charlotte and Emma YoungMinds. The plenary session featured leading experts across the health and social care sector, including Peter Jones, Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Cambridge, Ms Sara Tough, Executive Director of Children's Services, Norfolk County Council, Dr Sarah Maxwell, Clinical Director for Children, Families and Young People’s Services, Norfolk Trust, with a closing speech by UEA Pro-Vice-Chancellor, Prof Dylan Edwards.
YO U N G P E O P L E ’ S M E N TA L H E A LT H AND WELLBEING CONFERENCE
e. TOP RIGHT: Dr Jon Wilson from NSFT leads of a group of conference delegates in their project concept discussion Š Steve Wright Photography.
The other young service user in attendance, Chantel Keen, performed a spoken word poem and co-chaired the event with Dr Jon Wilson, Research Director at Norfolk and Showcasing innovative projects and interactive workshops, the event provided a platform to inspire innovative approaches to mental health in our region. Delegates built new connections and generated an impressive 30 original project ideas that look to improve mental health services in our region. The chosen winning project, ACE Aware Parents, is developing an innovative toolkit of evidence-based training materials for professionals to support young people to break the cycle of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) and prepare for becoming a parent in the future. Following on from the conference, LANTERN and another project have been further developed. The success of the conference in generating new and exciting ideas in the mental health sector has helped the partnership in our work to engender collaborative research in health and social care across East Anglia.
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“WE CAN ONLY TACKLE CHALLENGES [AROUND YOUNG PEOPLE’S MENTAL HEALTH] BY BRINGING TOGETHER PEOPLE FROM ALL SORTS OF DIFFERENT SECTORS TO COME UP WITH IMAGINATIVE, INNOVATIVE AND CREATIVE SOLUTIONS THAT ARE EMBEDDED IN RESEARCH. THE POWER OF UEA HEALTH AND SOCIAL CARE PARTNERS IS THAT IT PROVIDES THE FORUM WHICH CAN BRING PEOPLE TOGETHER, AND WHEN WE DO THAT, WE CAN GENUINELY BE OPTIMISTIC THAT WE CAN COME UP WITH EFFECTIVE SOLUTIONS”. UEA Vice-Chancellor Prof David Richardson
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public health crisis in a century. As the COVID-19 pandemic rapidly swept across the world, we watched health and social care workers willingly risk their own health and wellbeing to care for critically ill transformation to their ways of working at extraordinary pace. As restrictions slowed our standard activity, the partnership turned its focus to delivering practical support to partners and associates across the region. In a true test of our civic mission, UEA Health and Social Care Partners stepped to the fore as the critical link between our challenged partner
UEA laboratory technicians and 3D printed visors
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organisations, UEA expertise and an extensive network of organisations and volunteers. Not everything worked. But together we leveraged the trust and understanding we have built up to support each other at our greatest time of need. This crisis has underlined how important a regional response is. Alongside a coordinated national response, local government and local resilience plans, local partnerships have been uniquely positioned to play a pivotal role. activities in some way; we were proud to be able to pivot from our usual role to step in where we were needed. We have taken leading roles in the following projects:
Supporting the UEA Research & Innovation Division and Schools of Engineering and Pharmacy in their production of equipment including over 10,000 visors and developing 3D printed ventilator parts. We subsequently supplied resources manufactured by UEA and an army of regional volunteers to many of our partner organisations. One of the most popular products turned out to be the free Ear wearing face masks. and organised a round-up of suitable material across UEA and beyond. We also provided discrete and rapid to inform infection control decisions on PPE distribution. Using our networks to disseminate key public call outs and link people together - our COVID-related communications were viewed almost 900K times. We’ve advised national producers of sanitiser and introduced them to regional contacts to provide a shorter, more reliable support chain. We also solutions sets created in the School of Pharmacy which served the with new clinical face masks: East of England Ambulance Foundation Trust, Norfolk and Norwich University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, The Queen Elizabeth King's Lynn Trust. Throughout lockdown, we’ve sourced expert advice and facilities to support colleagues cross the region, from medical ethics to COVID-19 data analysis at system and organisation level and provision of accommodation & car parking to essential workers.
3D printed Ear Comfort Bands which we helped to disseminate to frontline staff
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HELPING YOUNG PEOPLE WITH ANXIETY
UEAHSCP launched a free online course aimed at those caring for or working with young people, to help them during the pandemic. ‘Anxiety in Children and Young People during COVID-19’ helps parents, carers and teachers to understand and identify common anxiety factors, stressors and symptoms and provides advice on how to assist a young person experiencing anxiety. The course is led by Dr Paul Linsley, Associate Professor in Mental Health Nursing at UEA and the material has been written in partnership with students in the School of Health Sciences. Dr Jon Wilson and Dr Tim Clarke of Norfolk tion Trust brought expert clinical review to the course. The feedback from learner reviews has been overwhelmingly positive. Read what some of the learners had to say about the course to the left. Prof Dylan Edwards, Pro-Vice-Chancellor for the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences added: “Producing this material and making it accessible and free to all learners will see a real around the world”. Find out more about the course and sign up here. At the time of writing, we have had:
12,500
LEARNERS JOIN THE COURSE
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ACROSS COUNTRIES
HAND SANITISER PRODUCTION After almost 12 weeks, a hard-working team from the Faculty of Science have managed to produce 4,000 litres of hand sanitiser, capable of cleaning 1.3 million pairs of hands! Led by Lab Manager Judith Mayne, lab production began in March as a contingency supply for the NNUH and NCC in preparation for COVID-19. The sanitiser has since been distributed across most UEAHSCP organisations, and also to surgeries, care homes, hospices and charities in need. Prof Nancy Fontaine, Chief Nurse and Director of Infection Prevention at the NNUH, said: “Hand sanitiser has been a vital and precious commodity in preventing the spread of coronavirus over the last couple of months, protecting both not have been able to maintain the required hygiene standards, so crucial at a time like this. So I would like to thank everyone who was involved in this incredible achievement for supporting our frontline NHS and social Dr Melanie Pascale, Director of Charitable Operations at Norfolk and Waveney cancer charity Big C, expressed her gratitude: “Thank you for providing much needed hand sanitiser to be included in our Big C Welfare packs, helping The gel has been well received and I cannot thank UEA service users' wellbeing”. Production would not have been possible without the help and generosity from local businesses sharing essential resources, including packaging materials and ethanol, as well as supporting the transportation and distribution process. Thank you to Adnams, Wild Knight Distillery, Oak Villa Distillery, ROMIL Pure Chemistry, M&H Plastics, PCE Automation, BreakFree Retail and Simon Long Removals. UEAHSCP is proud to have played a key role in working with the School of Pharmacy production team to liaise with ethanol suppliers across the country as well as arrange supply and distribution of the sanitiser across our region. partnerships between industry, the university and our partnership.
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Children of essential workers enjoying the extended activity programme at the UEA Sportspark, image courtesy of UEA Sportspark
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UEA SPORTSPARK NHS EXTENDED HOURS ACTIVITY PROGRAMME To support and acknowledge dedicated frontline health and social care workers, UEA Health and Social Care Partners partnered with the Sportspark to design the provision of a socially distanced extended hours activity programme for free places for school aged children. Key workers from Norfolk and Norwich University Hospitals Foundation Trust, and Norfolk Community Health and Care children attending freeing up over 16,000 hours of NHS
Workers of the Big C Cancer Charity with Welfare packs that include our hand sanitiser. Image courtesy of the Big C Cancer Charity
Norwich University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust said: access to extended hours activity programmes for their children, allowing them to continue delivering services to our community during the exceptionally challenging time of the pandemic. Thank you to UEA Health and Social Care Partners and Sportspark for providing this much needed service”. and volunteers put on creative and physical activities that avoid physical contact and maintain social distancing, with activities ranging from athletics, tennis and badminton to a colouring sheet, with the design combining the familiar rainbow in celebration of the NHS with the Sportspark's running track.
at the extended hours activity programme drew. Image courtesy of UEA Sportspark
Phil Steele, Director of Sport and Commercial Services at UEA, said: "We’re all deeply indebted to our colleagues in the NHS for providing such a fantastic and essential service to keep us safe and healthy. With a spacious, multi-purpose community facility at our disposal, it seemed obvious that we should put this to good use as a way of giving something back to them”. At the time of writing, the scheme has helped care for more than 80 children, providing more than 16,000 hours of care; an outstanding achievement. Funding from Santander, through Santander Universities is enabling the scheme to continue for free into late July, thereafter it will transition to a charged programme of activity available to more members of the community.
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THE IMPACT OF COMMUNICATIONS APRIL 2019 I MARCH 2020
launched our website and social media channels and built a network with our partner organisation communication teams. We ran a number of very successful campaigns that engaged a wide range of
service users and the media. Our priorities are aligned to the partnership's strategic plan and cover our core key strategic themes: Healthy Ageing, Young People’s Mental Health and Living with Long-Term Conditions. We work closely with our local and regional partners, drawing on our collective reputation to become a leading voice in establishing the civic, economic and intellectual importance of health and social care research in the East of England. We deliver high-quality, impactful and engaging communications that drive collaboration and their contribution. We produce professional and consistent communications that are vibrant and engaging, to know. content worth sharing, from important information and strategic updates to showcasing our excellence and general interest news. We work especially closely with our colleagues in communications across our partner organisations to help share the exciting initiatives that make us all proud to work in partnership.
530+ PIECES OF MEDIA COVERAGE
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WEBSITE VIEWS
OUR PROFILES:
CREATED 04/19
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CREATED 11/19
CREATED 05/20
894,294 VIEWS ON SOCIAL MEDIA
4,372
407
ONLINE ENGAGEMENTS
FOLLOWERS
MEDIA COVERAGE Partnership activity has been picked up by regional, national and international news outlets. MOG_EA launched their Sussex, Stephen Fry and Rt Hon Sir Norman Lamb for the Young People’s Mental Health and Wellbeing Conference also drew considerable press coverage. Since then, our reputation has continued to grow and our research activity has been frequently featured in the media.
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Partnership research activity has been featured on ITV, BBC, The Guardian, The Evening Standard, The Metro, The Times, The Nursing Times, The Daily Mail, CNN and Reuters. The SCORES project attracted extensive international media attention with more than 500 stories published across an array of media outlets representing a collective online readership of more than 2 billion.
SOCIAL MEDIA The Partnership has an active presence on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Issuu and LinkedIn. Our Twitter account has become a regional champion for our partners’ leading researchers and health practitioners. Through social media campaigns such as International Women’s Day, International Nurses Day and International Day of the Midwife we’ve highlighted some of our region’s most accomplished leaders in health and social care and provided a platform to showcase and amplify their work. Social media provides a readily accessible channel where we can easily communicate with key stakeholders to update them on research group activity. Social media enables excellent collaboration and information sharing across partner organisations and allows the partnership to easily share researchers’ accomplishments and publish public calls to action. Our social media presence proved impactful during the early weeks of the COVID-19 crisis.
COVID-19 COMMUNICATIONS Our calls for public support via our main social channel Twitter in the production of hand sanitiser received a staggering level of engagement nationally, with one tweet being shared over 600 times. We published the WHO formula for hand sanitiser for chemists to share around the country, put out numerous calls for personal protective equipment (PPE) and advertised our extended hours activity bring in multidisciplinary teams to support our NHS partners meet the challenges presented by COVID-19. The Partnership has been quick to pivot from our usual role in order to support our regional partners where we were needed. Our website holds a dedicated hub of dozens of Coronavirus-related resources, including practical advice and materials to support physical and mental health and wellbeing
OUR BRAND become involved, early on we established a strong brand for our research groups and the partnership as a whole. A series of videos produced to introduce some of our research groups received nearly 500 views: Concussion Action Programme, Medicines Optimisation, Parental & Childhood Obesity Early Prevention and Workforce Sustainability. Brand consistency and brand recognition is important to the partnership: our research groups each have their own sub-logo consistent with UEAHSCP branding, and the tone, approach, design and imagery used across our core marketing channels as well as redesigning our website as well as compiling a brand identity toolkit.
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