News

6th March 2018

Professor Alison Richardson has been named as an National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Senior Investigator for her work here with the CLAHRC Wessex.The honour is decided by a competition every year and recognises the research expertise of an individual in their particular field. NIHR Senior Investigators are among the most prominent and prestigious researchers funded by the NI... Read more >

2nd March 2018

Study gets almost £1 million for research to support people who are lonely and isolated A team of researchers based at three universities in England are working with the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) to help people who may be lonely in our communities. In total, £976,000 is being invested by the NIHR over three years to carry out the work. Recent figures show ... Read more >

24th January 2018

 A team from the CLAHRC and AHSN in Wessex has been working to model and analyse data from two major Accident and Emergency departments in the south of England.Within the AHSN is the Centre for Implementation Science or CIS. The team in CIS and the Data Science team from CLAHRC Wessex has been using data generated by hospitals in Portsmouth and Basingstoke to examinie how A and E departmen... Read more >

8th January 2018

NIHR CLAHRC Wessex has appointed Professor Catherine Pope as Deputy Director today, bringing substantive leadership experience to the organisation.Catherine has been working in CLAHRC Wessex over the last few years; contributing to three of its research themes, working with the data science team and focusing on developing an effective impact strategy.  She&nbs... Read more >

12th December 2017

It is with great sadness that we have to say that our colleague and friend Mark Stafford-Watson has died. His work and dedication have achieved so much, and we are proud and sad at the same time. Our thoughts are with his family.Since the sad news on Sunday, his friends and colleagues have been paying tribute to Mark and his work. Here are just a few of those tributes:Sarah Williams from S... Read more >

17th November 2017

It was an early start from most of us, away from the familiar realm of university or hospital. But we were coming together from north, east, west and south with a purpose – to understand and share ideas to improve care for people with dementia and their families. To explain, dementia is not a disease itself but rather a collection of symptoms that result from damage to the brain caus... Read more >

15th November 2017

For WORLD COPD day the NIHR CLAHRC Wessex Respiratory research team , in collaboration with patient and publicI representatives, respiratory teams from Southern Health and Solent NHS Trust, the school nursing team and scientists from the University of Southampton, organised an event hosted at a local secondary school with year 7 students.  The aim of the session was to promote awarene... Read more >

3rd November 2017

A research team based at University Hospitals Southampton NHS Foundation Trust is working on how care and treatment for people with a long term Neurological condition can be improved.The team are looking particularly at Parkinson's Disease, Huntington's Disease, Motor Neurone Disease, Multiple Sclerosis and Epilepsy.Dr Christopher Kipps is a consultant Neurologist and is leading the research te... Read more >

27th October 2017

CATCH is set In a near future where all antibiotics have failed, a father, Tom, and his young daughter, Amy, are quarantined in their house during a lethal pandemic. When Amy gets sick, Tom must make an impossible decision: give her up to the authorities or risk infection himself. The film acts as a stark warning that we need to preserve antibiotics for as long as possible in the ... Read more >

10th October 2017

Emma Ray works with our respiratory research team based at University Hospitals Southampton NHS Foundation Trust and is conducting research into diagnosing and supporting people with serious lung conditions like COPD (Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease) Emma and her colleague Yvette are raising money to help train health staff in Ethiopia.She writes "Our team of respirator... Read more >

2nd October 2017

“THINKING about the treatment you would and would not like to receive in a medical emergency is incredibly important, not just for you, but for your family too.” That’s the view of Roy Ford, pictured, who has first-hand experience of the difference that considering your options in advance can make.Earlier this year, Roy’s wife, Janet, was diagnosed with liver and pancreatic cancer. Just day... Read more >

25th September 2017

A team of researchers based at the University of Southampton is looking at how to improve care for patients in hospitals, by involving them in decisions about their care.  Professor Lisette Schoonhoven, an expert in healthcare, leads the new research study.  Professor Schoonhoven says. “A series of investigations (such as the Francis Inquiry) have shown the quality of care in NHS ... Read more >

13th September 2017

Here at CLAHRC Wessex it's been a tense wait to hear if intern Lavelle Niles and her family are safe after Hurricane Irma devastated homes on the Island of Anguilla. We got confirmation last night in an email that they are safe, which is a huge relief and Lavelle expressed her thanks to those who are thinking of her and her fellow Anguillans. She added that conditions are bad, and that she wasn... Read more >

1st September 2017

Big Data - do you know what it is?It’s an important part of the work that our Data Science Hub do, but do you know what big data is, and the role it might play in helping advance our healthcare systems?Whilst conceptually complex, put very simply, the term ‘big data’ describes the very large volumes of data - both structured and unstructured - that organisations are now capable of gatheri... Read more >

24th July 2017

How do NHS decision makers choose when, how or if to introduce innovations in health care? Researchers in CLAHRC North Thames are looking at evidence use in decision-making in the NHS, and decision-makers’ preferences for different types of evidence. The aim of the study is to improve both the production and use of evidence in decision-making on introducing innovations.   Wha... Read more >

3rd July 2017

We have just spent the last three months working on improving our website to make it easier to find what you want and making it smoother to use.Managed by Yvette Melia and assisted by 3 Men Squared, Yvette has gone through every page and area to try to improve the way we show off our great research.We must also thank our amazing trainees/PhD students for allowing us to film them explaining thei... Read more >

2nd June 2017

New paper "Improved outcomes in ex-smokers with COPD: a UK primary care observational cohort study" paper was accepted for publication in March 2017.  The poster presentation happened at the the IPCRG Conference, Amsterdam, earlier in 2016.The ERJ have commented this paper is of ‘outstanding educational value’ and to be considered for CME accreditation. Congratulations to Dr Lynn Josephs a... Read more >

30th May 2017

For the past seven months I’ve been working on a pilot project on the IOW called Hullabaloo and I can now report that it is completed and was overwhelmingly viewed as a success. My mission now, is to find a way to make it sustainable, so that it can happen again year after year.The concept of Hullabaloo started from Shademakers Carnival Club, who wanted to put on a free arts event locally ... Read more >

24th May 2017

On May 11 2017, the NIHR CLAHRC Team brought together 44 delegates from organisations across the Wessex region and beyond as well as wide range of people including the public, paramedics, nursing staff, clinicians, managers and researchers.The event was to examine and reflect on whether the ReSPECT approach to decision making for emergency care should be adopted. ReSPECT stands for the Recommen... Read more >

4th May 2017

Dr Tom Monks and the NIHR CLAHRC Wessex Data Science Team have been looking at data modelling and simulation to try and improve the efficiency of community health care. Getting the right community nurse to the right patients at the right time can be a real headache for NHS managers.Whilst doing this they also saw how the analytics of the Health Systems could help cut pollution. Dr Tom Monks pre... Read more >

4th May 2017

22nd June 2017, 12-4.30pm Woburn House, 20-24 Tavistock Square, Kings Cross, London WC1H 9HU This half-day workshop will bring together a diverse audience for lively debate and discussion about current practice in the UK’s health care innovation landscape. The workshop is a response to one of UCL’s current policy ‘grand challenges’ - understanding how innovation can be successfully em... Read more >

12th April 2017

Lavelle Niles has joined Portsmouth Hospitals NHS Trust, conducting research into the lives of young carers in our community.Lavelle, now aged 24, cared for her mother from the age of 8 on the Caribbean  island of Anguilla. She came to the University of Southampton in 2014 to study Healthcare Management, Policy and Research, and is about to enter her final year this autumn.She is about to start... Read more >

29th March 2017

GENIE is a powerful piece of software that helps connect people to support and services around them with the aim of helping people with a long term condition like diabetes or MS manage their health better in the community. It has been used widely on the Isle of Wight and has helped reduce acute admissions to the NHSThis is an opportunity to learn about the benefits of using GENIE, an online... Read more >

23rd March 2017

Preliminary findings by University of Southampton researchers and leading local clinicians have found that people using urgent and emergency care services do so because their level of pain is unmanageable and anxiety has reached a tipping point. The initial findings form part of a national study, led by Dr Joanne Turnbull and colleagues at the University of Southampton’s faculty of health s... Read more >

23rd March 2017

Professor Peter Griffiths, Chair of Health Services Research at the University of Southampton, and Nursing workforce lead for NIHR CLAHRC Wessex has been awarded by the NIHR.He joins Professor Anne Rogers as one of the 200 NIHR senior investigators. The honour is decided by a competition every year and recognises the research expertise of an individual in their particular field.Professor Gr... Read more >

13th March 2017

Research by NIHR CLAHRC Wessex into antibiotic resistance is to feature on Radio 4.Dr Mark Porter presents Inside Health on Radio 4 every Tuesday evening at 9pm, the programme is then repeated on Wednesday afternoon at 3pm.The bacteria that cause things like coughs and colds, as well as other nasty illnesses, are becoming ever more resistant to antibiotics. Bacteria are very good at adapting, a... Read more >

13th March 2017

NIHR CLAHRC Wessex has been working with a number of organisations to look into the burden of treatment and complexity in end of life care.It has been reviewing a decision aid ReSPECT for health professionals, families and patients to use when a person is unable to communicate their medical treatment preferences.Professor Alison Richardson (pictured), Professor of Cancer Nursing and End of Lif... Read more >

8th March 2017

Dr Rudabeh Meskarian is presenting her Mathematical modelling research findings before MPs on Monday 13 March.Dr Meskarian from NIHR CLAHRC Wessex has been using health data and modelling to create a new design for sexual health services in our region. A paper is expected shortly and she is taking her finding to the STEM event at the House of Commons in March. In the meantime, see for yourse... Read more >

30th January 2017

CLAHRC Wessex have released new dates for colleagues to attend events in 2017. This includes frailty workforce development team meetings, a launch event for the GENIE social networking tool and the CLAHRC Wessex annual stakeholder conference. To find out more visit our events page, read the list of new dates in our general publications or contact WessexCLAHRC@soton.ac.uk  Read more >

6th January 2017

What is this about?We are carrying out a study at the University of Southampton to find out more about peoples’ views and experiences of urgent and emergency care.  Who are we looking for?We are looking for people aged 18-25 years, people over 75+ years and people from East European populations who have used an urgent or emergency care service. This might include telephoning NHS 111, visitin... Read more >

9th December 2016

Pets can help people manage their long-term mental health conditions, according to research published in the open access journal *BMC Psychiatry.The consistent presence and close physical proximity of pets contributed to people feeling secure and provided a source of calm and therapeutic benefit for the pets’ owners. The researchers, based in Manchester and Southampton suggest that pets can be ... Read more >

8th December 2016

Remembering Jim Watt, PPI champion, NIHR CLAHRC Wessex (pictured right)We are sad to report the passing of Jim Watt, the PPI champion for Theme 6 of the NIHR CLAHRC Wessex. Jim was a good friend to our organisation, the Theme and WISeRD, our PPI strategy group. He brought a wealth of experience to his role as PPI champion, as someone with long term health problems, and also his other expe... Read more >

1st December 2016

It's the launch of a fifth round of Dunhill Medical Trust Research Training Fellowships.  Applications are invited from all clinicians and health or social care professionals (including more senior staff) working in the NHS, social services or higher education institutions in the UK, who would like a career in research aimed at improving care for older people, but lack the necessary training an... Read more >

30th November 2016

The Treatment Escalation Plan (TEP), the signature project for NIHR CLAHRC Theme 6 project is gradually moving forward.  Treatment Escalation Plans are essentially the summary record of a conversation between a patient (and next of kin) and a clinician on treatment preferences and options in case of an emergency.  It is a subject that has a far-reaching impact on health and social care practice... Read more >

28th November 2016

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17th November 2016

On Friday 18 November researchers and health experts from across the Wessex region will be at NIHR Wessex at Ten. The event at Guildhall Winchester will mark a decade of World-class health research which has been taking place in hospitals, universities and communities across Hampshire, Dorset, Wiltshire and the Isle of Wight.Keynote speaker at the event will be Professor Chris Whitty, the Chief... Read more >

14th November 2016

Monday 14 November marks the start of World Antibiotic Awareness Week 2016Researchers based in the South and East of England have been working to preserve the life of the antibiotics we have by increasing the effectiveness of when they are prescribed by family doctors and nurses.The research began in Southampton, but through a quirk of fate moved up country to begin in Hertfordshire. The bacte... Read more >

11th November 2016

WING COPD - Wessex Integrated Network Group for Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) met this week bringing together NHS staff from across our region to help find better ways to prevent and diagnose COPD, and care for people with COPD.The meeting included commissioners, the ambulance service, smoking cessation services, researchers as well as doctors, nurses and physiotherapists from NH... Read more >

10th November 2016

NIHR CLAHRC Wessex is pleased to announce that Dr Greta Westwood has been appointed as Director of Engagement and Training. As well as taking on that role she will become part of the senior team in the Faculty of Health Sciences as the Director of Clinical Academic Practice at the University of Southampton.As part of the National Institute for Health Research, CLAHRC Wessex (Collaboration for L... Read more >

9th November 2016

We do it every second, its automatic, but we don’t always think about it until there is a problem. Breathing is something we take for granted, but there are several things that can make it harder – one of which is called COPD (Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease)Wednesday 16 November is World COPD day and researchers, consultants, doctors and expert nurses will be in the main entrance of Sout... Read more >

8th November 2016

NIHR CLAHRC Wessex has just published a new Evidence Brief which summarises what is know about levels of safe nurse staffing.Here's an excerpt:"A large and increasing number of studies have reported a relationship between low nurse staffing levels and adverse outcomes, including higher mortality rates. Despite the volume of research undertaken, there remain some significant gaps in the evide... Read more >

29th September 2016

Research by a team from the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) found that people diagnosed with signs of Chronic Kidney Disease* often did not realise how serious it was, or may not even know they have it.The publication won the NIHR Collaboration for Applied Health Research and Care (CLAHRC) team recognition from the Royal College of General Practitioners in their awards ceremony... Read more >

6th September 2016

The CLAHRC teams from around England will be at the NHS Health and Care Innovation Expo in Manchester on Wednesday 7 and Thursday 8 September.As part of the National Institute for Heath Research CLAHRCs stand very much at the implementation end of the research process.We will be sharing our work from across the country with the publication of our CLAHRC BITES, which summarise our work in the NH... Read more >

1st September 2016

Here at CLAHRC Wessex all of our research areas have their own member of the public as part of the team to help inform decisions about the way research is conducted.Over the last 3 years we have worked to develop our public contributors and involve them as part of the research and review process. We can now call on around 30 regular contributors.The official title for this kind of approach is P... Read more >

28th July 2016

We are working on some research looking at how to prolong the use of antibiotics to treat illnesses. It is a serious subject. The bacteria that cause things like coughs and colds, as well as other nasty illnesses, are becoming ever more resistant to the antibiotics we have. Bacteria are very good at adapting, and because we keep using the same antibiotics, they are finding ways to overcome them... Read more >

26th July 2016

Professor Tom Wilkinson has been awarded Chair of Respiratory Medicine and Honorary NHS Consultant Physician at the University of Southampton and University Hospitals Southampton NHS Foundation Trust.Tom leads on research into respiratory conditions and improved treatment and care for NIHR CLAHRC Wessex.His work alongside his team has seen major improvement in the prevention, early diagnosis, t... Read more >

25th July 2016

CLAHRC Wessex have released key event dates for colleagues to attend in the coming months through to 2017. For further information read more and click on the links for a published list or our events web pages. Read more >

15th June 2016

Lively debate was the order of the day on Thursday 19th May when the CLAHRC Wessex (Complexity at end of life) team hosted a local Patient and Public Involvement (PPI) event in Southampton as part of their Treatment Escalation Plans (TEPs) Project. ‘Have Your Say and influence the national work on emergency care and treatment decision-making’, was an opportunity for a small group of people to i... Read more >

8th June 2016

Last year we asked people across Wessex: ‘What research is needed to improve fundamental care on hospital wards?’As we prepare to publish our final paper, we wanted to give an update on the responses we had and how they have shaped the planned research.    Following really valuable contributions from patients, carers and staff (through a survey, workshop and discussions) we summarised and ranke... Read more >

19th April 2016

A report has been published that brings new insight into how people with various neurological conditions can be better supported to stay well.The Neurology Intelligence Report is the result of close working between a number of organisations* including the National Institute for Health Research, which is the research arm of the NHS.Over 2 million hospital attendances and admissions from 2009-... Read more >

18th March 2016

Dr Ryan Buchanan, a PhD student working for CLAHRC Wessex, has picked up an award with his team for Excellence in Research, presented by Isle of Wight NHS Trust. It’s for his work on diagnosing Hepatitis C in communities sharing needles. If you would like to know more about his novel approach, he has written an article Read more >

8th March 2016

Anne Rogers chosen as CLAHRC Wessex DirectorProfessor Anne Rogers has been named as the new director of CLAHRC Wessex. Anne is keen to stress where we need to go as an organisation: “I think that over the last 2 years NIHR CLAHRC Wessex has proven itself to be a new force for engaging with and pursuing productive links with our Wessex partners in our communities. The challenge for the n... Read more >

16th February 2016

Comprehensive Geriatric Assessment is a process which looks at all the healthcare needs of an older person including a plan for treatments and interventions that are needed. In this study volunteers will be invited to participate in focus groups. They will be asked about their opinions, attitudes and thoughts about the usual care of people aged 75 years and older at their GP practice (... Read more >

10th February 2016

Higher staffing levels linked to reduced risk of inpatient deathA study led by the University of Southampton and King’s College London has shown that a higher registered nurse to patient ratio is linked to a reduced risk of inpatient death.The study of staffing levels in NHS hospitals, published in the online journal BMJ Open, found that in trusts where registered nurses had six or fewer pat... Read more >

9th February 2016

Involving patients and the public in your research11am Tuesday 23 February 2016An introductory webinar for researchers with little or no experience of patient and public involvement (PPI). This webinar is aimed at aspiring NIHR trainees and early career researchers. This one hour webinar will cover:An overview of what PPI is and why it is important in research (Philippa Yeeles, Director of Invo... Read more >

25th January 2016

Having conversations about the best course of action in the event a person’s condition deteriorates is difficult for everyone involved, whether it is the patient themselves, their family or carer and the clinician.After an initial study on Advance Care Planning (A. Richardson, S. Lund1), research into the current application of treatment escalation plans across the country, and early engagemen... Read more >

18th January 2016

The public consultation is now live on what is now termed the Emergency Care and Treatment Plan (ECTP) that has emerged from the national working group led by the Resuscitation Council (UK) and the Royal College of Nursing.The consultation takes the form of a survey and includes a proposed form and accompanying information and guidance. The consultation period ends at 0900 on Monday 29th... Read more >

4th January 2016

"From the moment I stepped into an older persons medical ward I could tell it was not the right environment for somebody with dementia. As an Occupational Therapist my previous posts included a Community Care Team and inpatient older person’s mental health wards; I also had experience as a care assistant in two dementia care homes."Read Naomi's blog on Dementia care Read more >

15th December 2015

Our muscles play an important role in our health and grip strength is a good way of measuring how well our muscles are doing. Our grip strength builds through young adulthood to reach its peak in our 30s after which it gradually tails away. It is a reliable and valid way of evaluating someone’s hand strength, which in turns provides an objective measure of the skeletal muscle strength ... Read more >

20th November 2015

Getting the results of research implemented into routine healthcare is often a challenge. The missing link between the development and implementation of evidence into practice is called the ‘second translational gap’ and is particularly noticeable in primary care. A recent study including Professors Anne Kennedy and Anne Roge... Read more >

6th November 2015

Over 160 delegates representing more than 70 organisations, attended the 2nd Wessex Dementia Collaboration Event in Southampton on 21 October. The conference aimed to showcase work on dementia projects across Wessex, and emphasise collaboration across clinical, community, education, research and social care boundaries. Highlights of the day included John’s Campaign founder, Nicci Gerra... Read more >

3rd November 2015

We do it every second, its automatic, but we don’t always think about it until there is a problem. Breathing is something we take for granted, but there are several things that can make it harder – one of which is called COPD (Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease) Wednesday 18 November is World COPD day and researchers, consultants, doctors and expert nurses will be in West Quay Sh... Read more >

23rd October 2015

Here in Wessex we are looking at how CRP tests can give GPs and clinicians an early indication about the cause of chest infections.  C-reactive protein (CRP) blood tests can give an indication as to whether an infection is likely to be bacterial, and we are beginning to roll the tests out in the region.Often GPs and doctors can't be certain if an infection is bacterial or viral, and without tha... Read more >

8th October 2015

The seminar’s main purpose was to learn about the challenges of implementing Treatment Escalation Plans, specifically the Devon TEP experience, but also directly from the delegates themselves.  It was also an opportunity to hear about findings from work done during the early stages of the Wessex TEP project and hear the latest update from the national TEP working group from one of the ... Read more >

1st October 2015

All CLAHRCs conduct world-class applied health research across the NHS and then translate research findings into improved outcomes for patients. We focus on research targeted at chronic disease and public health interventions. The 13 CLAHRCs in England work together as a college ensuring that we share our learning across the country and work in a cohesive and collaborative way. We know... Read more >

18th September 2015

The NIHR CLAHRC Wessex team behind research looking at improving how people manage their long term conditions has been sharing their knowledge with health leaders in the region.Liz James (who has been conducting research for CLAHRC Wessex) and Chad Oatley (Public Health Team, Isle of Wight Council) attended a meeting of the Public Health Information Group (PHIG) which took place in the Civic Ce... Read more >

16th September 2015

If when you hear people talking about Facebook or Twitter - your ears turn off and you hear blah blah tweet this and like that... then you're not alone. I've heard them referred to as 'Faceache and Twaddle' by one social media denier.I get it. "Life is just great as it is, I don't need any more complexity or to hear people's opinions." Fair enough, but how often do people read the letters page ... Read more >

11th September 2015

Research carried out by NIHR Collaboration for Leadership in Applied Health Research and Care (CLAHRC) Wessex has found that hospital nurses who work longer than 12 hour shifts have a higher risk of wanting to leave their job, are more dissatisfied and more likely to burnout in terms of emotional exhaustion. (see the full publication) The study by Chiara Dall’Ora, based at the University of So... Read more >

9th September 2015

Professor Anne Rogers is Professor of Health Systems Implementation in the Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Southampton and Research Director of the NIHR CLAHRC WessexProfessor Anne Rogers explains how weaker social ties play a role in helping people manage a long term illness.With ever more attention on the NHS and how many nurses and doctors are needed to give people the best care, o... Read more >

11th August 2015

How using social networks might support mental health recovery. Sandra Walker writes about how her research took an unexpected turn.Managing our mental health is something we all do and for many of us it is a fairly straightforward process, but a significant number of us are likely to find it rather more complex, sometimes  needing support from our GP or mental health services. As pa... Read more >

13th July 2015

They’re at the heart of the NHS and get the majority of the NHS budget – more than £65 billion of taxpayer’s money – to provide your care and treatment. But are Clinical Commissioning Groups delivering on the promise to be accountable to the public? Findings from research we carried out suggest a wide variation in the level of access the public has to spending information in different parts of ... Read more >

8th July 2015

Already named one of our Rising Stars, the judging panel was clear that Anya should also be selected as one of our Patient Leaders. A former medical student, she was forced to end her studies following a diagnosis of several long term neurological conditions.She is keen to emphasise the important role patients can play in shaping care: “Although the knowledge and skills and expertise I’ve learn... Read more >

23rd June 2015

The Integrated Respiratory Care research team has been shortlisted for the Nursing Times Awards 2015 for its work in identifying people who are vulnerable to Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease or COPD as it is known.COPD is more widely spread in our community than first thought, with many cases of the illness not being spotted early enough or reported to doctors. It is thought there are hund... Read more >

19th June 2015

Dr Ryan Buchanan has been recognised by the Royal Pharmaceutical Society for his work to help diagnose people Hepatitis C, winning an award.Ryan who conducts his research with funding and support from NIHR CLAHRC Wessex has been working with hard to reach groups of people on the Isle of Wight who may have been exposed to the Hepatitis C virus by syringe use. Many people who are regular drug-use... Read more >

11th June 2015

When we are in hospital and have to stay it can mean everyday things are just not there anymore. Everything from getting dressed and eating can feel different. The nurses and staff will do their best to make you comfortable, but it's still not like home. One way we are helping is by having volunteers from our community come and help people during meal times. Meal Time Assistants work for a few ... Read more >

2nd June 2015

Here at NIHR CLAHRC Wessex we work with our partners in the NHS and beyond to bring the best research into practice. Working together we can make a real difference to the health and lives of people in our region of England. So we asked our NHS partners at a recent event what they thought about research and the work of the CLAHRC. This is what they had to say. (link) Read more >

27th May 2015

We want to know how you think fundamental care on hospital wards (ranging from how people talk to patients to ensuring that people are kept safe) could be improved, and what research would be most useful. Whether you are a patient, health professional, manager or simply have a view on it - we’d like to hear from you. Tell us your thoughts and take part in the survey Please feel ... Read more >

27th May 2015

Vital signs in hospitals at night. Dying to sleep?Monitoring vital signs is a crucial aspect of care for patients in hospital wards. Early signs of deterioration can be detected, providing the first step in the “chain of prevention” of serious consequences including cardiac arrest and death.  Vital signs, including blood pressure, pulse respirations and temperature, are the basis of early wa... Read more >

21st May 2015

This what we do. Why research matters to health and wellbeingHere are NIHR CLAHRC Wessex we have been working hard since we were set up just over a year ago to produce some of the best research across a wide range of issues. While many people will know that, we just wanted to share with you a video we made to hopefully explain the work we do.Our new CLAHRC Wessex video Read more >

18th May 2015

CLAHRC Wessex' Dr Anne Kennedy meeting with Catherine Wilton, Deputy Director for Coalition for Collaborative Care at NHS England to discuss our research into how social networks can help support people with long term conditions.Find out more about our research on our blog Read more >

16th April 2015

Spring.  The headlines about A&E overcrowding are beginning to disappear just as a fresh wave of news reports burst forth with the NHS priorities for the next government.  We now have the luxury of a brief respite to reflect on how we can improve the lot of our hospital A&E’s before the seasonal cycle repeats itself.  I have spent my winter looking at A&E data examining the question - could the... Read more >

18th March 2015

Connecting people is a powerful way of helping people with long term conditions to stay healthy and improve the way they manage their illness. Our research on the Isle of Wight has been using a social networking ‘tool’ EU-GENIE to help people with a long term condition to expand and develop their support networks,  gain access to the support and advice they need, and give them information to ma... Read more >

9th March 2015

How can we talk about death. How research is changing that last taboo.Nuno Tavares is a Respiratory Nurse and a PhD Student at Queen Alexandra  Hospital, Portsmouth. He graduated as a nurse in 2012 from University in his native Portugal and it wasn’t long afterwards that a recruitment event by Portsmouth Hospital NHS Trust brought him and his fiancé to the UK.A few years down the line and N... Read more >

6th March 2015

Professor Peter Griffiths from NIHR CLAHRC Wessex finds surprising conclusions about single rooms in hospitals. "Staff preference remained for a mix of single rooms and bays. Patients preferred single rooms. There was no strong evidence that single rooms had any impact on patient safety but housekeeping and cleaning costs are higher."Read more at NIHR Journals Read more >

6th March 2015

Anne Rogers and Anne Kennedy's latest paper has been published and looks at Chronic Kidney disease. Here are a couple of extracts: In the UK, health policy has incentivised surveillance of early stage chronic kidney disease (CKD) in primary care with the detection, recording on a register and monitoring of CKD constituting remunerated Quality and Outcomes Framework (QOF) indicators. However, li... Read more >

3rd March 2015

Poor nutrition in hospital inpatients is a problem that is becoming increasingly recognised both in the UK and worldwide, and requires a multifaceted approach, including protected meal times, red trays and protein and energy supplementation as required. One factor that particularly affects older inpatients is the amount of assistance they receive at mealtimes. Time-pressured nursing staff may n... Read more >

3rd March 2015

By Claire Ballinger and Mark Stafford-Watson - Chairs, Wessex Inclusion in Service Design and Delivery (WISeRD) groupIt's the end of our first year in CLAHRC Wessex, we have been thinking about our progress in involving patients and the public in our work (or PPI as it's called), and reviewing where our focus should be for the coming year.  We have settled on five strategic aims:Develop our cap... Read more >

19th February 2015

How nurse staffing affects the quality of care for patients across European HospitalsLuk Bruyneel is a Research fellow at the Department of Public Health and Primary Care at KU Leuven in Belgium. He shared the findings of his research[Griffiths P. (Health Sciences)] , part of the International RN4CAST study on nurse workforce, at a seminar at the Faculty of Health Sciences at the Universit... Read more >

12th February 2015

Safe levels of nursing staff in hospitalProfessor Peter Griffiths has been giving evidence to the Health and Social Care Committee at the Welsh Assembly on the Safe Nurse Staffing Levels (Wales) Bill. Peter works on one of the NIHR CLAHRC Wessex themes looking into Fundamental Care in Hospital, and has been explaining some of his findings to assembly members. Peter addressing the welsh assembly... Read more >

11th February 2015

I’m Nuno Tavares, a staff nurse at Queen Alexandra Hospital and I’m also a PhD student carrying out research for NIHR CLAHRC Wessex and Portsmouth Hospitals NHS Trust. My research is about improving end of life care for patients with COPD.Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) is characterised as a slowly progressive disease, with advanced disease frequently resulting in increased exa... Read more >

9th February 2015

Here at the CLAHRC Wessex we have been using and developing an interactive tool called GENIE . This is designed to engage and link people with long-term health conditions to social activities and support they value and find useful. We have been working on the Isle of Wight with the My Life a Full Life team and other organisations to see how we can integrate GENIE as part of day-to-day support f... Read more >

9th February 2015

I’m Ryan Buchanan, a specialist registrar doctor in liver disease and a PhD student carrying out research for NIHR CLAHRC Wessex. My project is centred on Hepatitis C in the Isle of Wight community.Hepatitis C is a virus, which unlike other viruses such as ‘flu’ or the common cold directly affects your liver. It is usually passed from person to person via blood and develops into a long lasting ... Read more >

9th February 2015

Living with a serious long-term condition is often hard and complex work. My team and I are interested in finding ways to reduce complexity and lift the burden for people with these conditions, and their families, at end of life.To help us think about the kind of research questions we should be asking we held a research forum at Freemantle Community Centre in Southampton. We invited people with... Read more >

9th February 2015

NHS clinical commissioning groups across the UK are all focused on improving patient care while facing the pressures of an aging population, increasing volumes of patients with multiple complex health problems and the stark political reality of the need to cut costs.  The complexity of these decisions and how to improve care is often enormously underestimated in the popular media. Take for exam... Read more >

19th January 2015

The latest on NIHR CLAHRC Wessex' social media channels - click, follow, like, comment & blogFor many people using social media is a way of life, but for others it's new territory. At CLAHRC Wessex we are always busy with research and so to keep you up to date we have created some familiar channels for you to keep in touch with our work. Our latest addition to the family is our Wordpress blog -... Read more >

22nd December 2014

I have just finished an exchange for one semester (October-December 2015) at the University of Southampton working with the CLAHRC Wessex team. I was supervised by Prof. Anne Rogers, Anne Kennedy and Ivo Vassilev. I'm undertaking a PhD at the University of Navarre (Spain) exploring the process of living with Parkinson's Disease (PD) in patients and their relatives, and looking at Normalisation ... Read more >

18th December 2014

When dementia occurs in people under the age of 65 years, it often presents in unusual and diagnostically challenging ways. There may be changes in language, behaviour or navigation difficulties, and frequently, it's not Alzheimer's disease, but other forms of dementia such as frontotemporal dementia. Over the last few years, there have been significant improvements to dementia care in the comm... Read more >

12th December 2014

NIHR CLAHRCs support the vision set out for the English NHS in the NHS Five Year Forward View (5YFV), published 23 October 2014.5YFV has been acclaimed both across national media and within health and social care for the clarity with which it articulates not simply why change is needed but also what that change might look like. NIHR CLAHRCs welcome the opportunity that it provides for a reasone... Read more >