How ARC researchers are shaping the future of health and care

While working as a midwife in a continuity of care team for women with complex social risk, I completed an MSc under the supervision of Professor Jane Sandall at King's College London. I had the opportunity to work with a statistician to analyse the maternal and infant outcomes of those receiving continuity of care. I was supported to publish the research and share the findings at the International Forum on Quality and Safety on Healthcare in Paris. The experience really opened my eyes on how research can go on to impact policy and service development at an international scale, and how much more there is to learn. Listening to clinicians at the forum talk about their journey from identifying important research questions, to implementing the findings and recommendations to improve outcomes and patient experiences, I was hooked!

The people I work with; other researchers, service users, local communities, charity groups, clinicians, students and policy makers, the list goes on! I am constantly learning from those who share their knowledge and personal experiences so generously, and no one day is ever the same.

Since moving into research ten years ago I have been supported by King’s and the NIHR to develop important practice and policy research questions, and undertake training in a range of methodologies. The findings of my research have informed the NHS Equity and Equality strategy and NHS Long Term Plan and was pivotal in the National Maternity Transformation Programme and Continuity of Carer Guidance that aims to ensure safer and more personalised care across England for Black and minority ethnic women and birthing people, and those living in the most deprived areas. My current NIHR Advanced Fellowship focuses on improving maternal and infant health and social inequalities for those with no recourse to public funds and irregular migrants. I am collaborating with international experts, those with lived experience, health and social care professionals and UK policy makers to ensure this research not only informs care provision, but also future immigration policy and the NHS charging programme.

One accomplishment I am particularly proud of is how I have learnt to conduct high-quality, collaborative research while enjoying family life with three young children. That is not to say this comes easily; one of the best but perhaps most disruptive things about the research environment is the number of interesting opportunities that come knocking at your door, and it is sometimes very difficult to say no. So my top tips would be to think about your long-term goal and try to priorities the opportunities that will help you get there, to surround yourself with those who understand and respect what is important to you, and reflect those qualities back to create a supportive and inclusive environment.

The first piece of research that I undertook as a medical student was the evaluation of a health visiting intervention among families with pre-school children. I found, to my surprise, that I really enjoyed playing with data, designing analysis plans to answer research questions, and above all, of course, the thrill of the statistically significant findings! It was only several years later, after the findings had been published, that I learned that my findings had been used to influence health visiting policy in Scotland… and I had thought statistical significance was thrilling! It dawned on me that a future career as a clinical academic really could make a difference at individual patient and population levels.

As a clinical academic, we really do enjoy the best of both worlds! I enjoy building new research projects from observations made in clinical practice then realising change through implementing research findings in my clinical work. 

There are many avenues to impact. The highlight of my MRC-funded PhD fellowship was a public engagement project, in which I commissioned two artists to produce a short film about the experiences of those with gestational diabetes (the mental health impacts of which I had studied in my PhD). I was working closely with patient advocacy groups, a broad range of those who had experienced gestational diabetes were involved in the film, which has been viewed by many clinicians, researchers, patients and the public throughout the UK and internationally. You can read more in this blog about avenues to impact that I have explored. 

I’ve always been the sort of person who asks ‘why?’. I worked clinically as an occupational therapist for 10 years and I asked ‘why’ a lot about how we worked with people, and what caused the inequalities I saw for the people I worked with. I thought that getting involved in research might help to answer some of those questions and, more importantly, make things better for the people I worked with - that was always my aim.

I work with great people who are curious, passionate about making things better and very supportive of each other. I feel very lucky. My team includes other researchers, project managers, experts by experience and people working clinically. This range of people brings different views and experiences together and I am always learning from other people, which I love.

I am currently working on projects that aim to improve the physical health of people diagnosed with mental illness. I hope my research will improve how people diagnosed with mental illness are able to access support for their physical health, and that they get the support they should be getting. I hope the research will help to support staff to feel more confident and competent in dealing with physical health and that overall we improve the health and wellbeing of people with a mental illness.