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June 2020
News from across the ARCs
ARC East Midlands Director gives evidence to committee investigating COVID-19 and people from BAME groups

Professor Kamlesh Khunti, who was the first to spot an association between severe symptoms of COVID-19 and people from Black, Asian, and Minority Ethnic (BAME) groups, was called on to give evidence to a parliamentary committee.

Professor Khunti told MPs “primary prevention is key” to reducing the risk of contracting COVID-19 in patients from BAME backgrounds.
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Research survey to tackle impact of COVID-19 on children and young people’s mental health

ARC Oxford and Thames Valley are supporting a research survey to track children and young people's mental health throughout the COVID-19 crisis. This will help to identify what advice, support and help can actually protect their mental health.
Bereavement support on the frontline: recommendations for hospital clinicians

ARC South London's palliative and end of life care researchers have provided recommendations and resources for hospital clinicians to mitigate poor bereavement outcomes and to support staff in relation to COVID-19 deaths.
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Urgent testing, tracing and isolation could save lives and the economy

Population-wide testing, contact tracing and isolation in the UK could save 50,000 lives and £700 billion of GDP over the next two years, finds research co-led by UCL, University of Edinburgh and University of Haifa, supported by ARC North Thames. This work is informing Government policy making.
No significant change in ambulance call-outs during lockdown

A recent study supported by ARC West Midlands looked at the use of emergency ambulance services during lockdown, and found there was no significant change in call-outs. There was no evidence to suggest that people were reluctant to ring for an ambulance when experiencing heart attack or stroke symptoms.
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“COVID-19 has laid bare our longstanding social, economic and political inequalities", says Professor Clare Bambra

Professor Clare Bambra, who leads on ARC North East and North Cumbria’s Inequalities and Marginalised Communities theme, has co-authored a paper on how COVID-19 has placed a spotlight on health inequalities.

Clare says: “COVID-19 has laid bare our longstanding social, economic and political inequalities. It is vital that this time, the right public policy responses, such as expanding social protection and public services and pursuing green inclusive growth strategies, are undertaken so that the COVID-19 pandemic does not increase health inequalities for future generations.”
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The North is being hit hard by COVID-19, finds ARCs in collaboration with the Northern Health Science Alliance

Recent analysis by ARCs Greater Manchester and North East & North Cumbria, in collaboration with the Northern Health Science Alliance, shows COVID-19 is hitting the North hardest with its effects likely to last longest in the region, particularly in deprived urban areas.

The impacts of the virus are hitting hard on death rates from the illness, death rates from all causes and on job losses.

 
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ARC Northwest London establishes a BAME COVID-19 Network

The BAME COVID-19 Network links researchers with NHS frontline staff and policymakers to address the impact of COVID-19 on Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) communities and health and care staff. The ARC has developed a web platform which highlights relevant research, funding opportunities and information from the media.
Rapid review explores disproportionate impact of COVID-19 on BAME people

An ARC West rapid review commissioned by Bristol City Council explored why the risk of death from COVID-19 is higher among BAME people than the white British population. The review found a complex mixture of factors influenced outcomes, including being poorer, where people live, overcrowded housing, types of job and access to health services.
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ARC South West Peninsula collaborates to aid the NHS during the COVID-19 pandemic

A collaboration between ARC South West Peninsula, University of Exeter researchers and the NHS has developed a crucial data modelling tool to ensure health trusts maintain sufficient levels of life-saving equipment and bed spaces during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The research team used the tool to help predict demand on crucial NHS resources in the region, such as in-patient beds, intensive care, PPE, ventilators, oxygen and testing kits. 
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COVID-19 data analytics helps hospitals manage healthcare resources at a time of crisis

A team of mathematicians, physicists, statisticians, data scientists and engineers, led by Professor Michael Boniface and supported by ARC Wessex, formed an alliance to forecast the numbers of patient admissions to the University Hospital Southampton, and for the ICU and general COVID-19 ward. The modelling and reports helped the hospital manage limited healthcare resources at a time of crisis.

The work has since been shared across Wessex, and now a further bid for funding seeks to bring the research together with lessons learnt from major hospitals in Spain and Italy, helping European health systems recover and re-imagine emergency care delivery.
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Exploring experiences of the pandemic through diaries

A team at ARC North West Coast has designed a short pilot study to explore individual responses to the COVID-19 pandemic. The study aims to test out a diary method approach as a tool for collecting public insights and experiences of how the virus is affecting daily life in local communities.
Living with dementia during a pandemic

Dr Stephanie Daley and Dr Naji Tabet from ARC Kent, Surrey and Sussex, together with colleagues from across the region, are leading a study into the impact the pandemic is having on people living with dementia, including the quality of care and the impact social isolation has on people, as well as their family and carers.
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Take part in urgent COVID-19 research: share your views in the NHS Check survey

Cambridgeshire and Peterborough NHS Foundation Trust has recently joined a major research study, which is being coordinated regionally by ARC East of England. The project, led nationally by King's College London, seeks to understand how best to support staff in preparation for winter 2020 and any future COVID-19 peaks. 

NHS Check is open to anyone working in any role within a participating NHS Trust or Nightingale Hospital.
Yorkshire forms a COVID-19 Scientific Advisory Group (C-SAG)

ARC Yorkshire and Humber is facilitating a COVID-19 Scientific Advisory Group, bringing together researchers, practitioners and other partners from across the region.

The group will define and identify vulnerable groups and assess the impact of COVID-19 on local communities and families both now and over the course of the coming year.
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Blogs and opinion
Balancing clinical and research work during COVID-19 - the strain, the gain and the best of us all

Stephen Lim is a NIHR Clinical Lecturer in Geriatric Medicine, working in the Wessex deanery. In this blog, Stephen writes about life on the frontline of the COVID-19 crisis.
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Why talking about physical activity in the right way is more important than ever

In this blog, Dr James Nobles from ARC West writes about the Bristol recommendations for talking about physical activity, and how important this is in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic.
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A mismatch between research evidence and the information needs of care homes during COVID-19: the case of restraint

Tamara Backhouse, from ARC East of England writes about the difficulty of managing COVID-19 in care homes, and how guidance and evidence stops short of addressing how to implement the least restrictive and proportionate restraints on residents.
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What is the value in local outdoor space for our mental health and wellbeing?

Sarah Rodgers, Professor of Health Informatics in the Department of Public Health, Policy and Systems at the University of Liverpool, writes about how lockdown has cast the spotlight on green and blue outdoor spaces in urban areas and their impact on our mental health.
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Unequal impact: key issues raised in a community event to discuss coronavirus and its impact on people with protected characteristics

There has been widespread concern that the pandemic and measures to tackle it are having a disproportionate effect on certain sections of the population, some of whom may already experience considerable health inequalities.

In this blog, Dr Josephine Ocloo writes about a community Zoom event ARC South London held to discuss these impacts and give service users, carers and representatives of community organisations in South London a chance to share their experiences.
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An applied health research insider’s view of healthcare response to COVID-19

Paul Bird, ARC West Midlands Head of Programme Delivery & West Midlands AHSN Knowledge Mobilisation Lead, reflects on how rapidly adapting to new ways of working during the COVID-19 response may help to shape future service transformation.
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Events
3rd UK Implementation Science Research Conference

Date: 16 July (pm) & 17 July (all day)
Location: Fully virtual conference


Find out more >
This year's conference, supported by NIHR ARC South London, will focus on implementation science for health and social care: maximising relevance for practice and policy.

Join to share the best ways to implement evidence-based health and social care research within services and systems to improve health and care outcomes. 
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