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January 2022
NIHR Applied Research Collaborations (ARCs) newsletter
News from across the ARCs
Forced to Flee / Collaborating with refugee communities to support the mental health of people affected by displacement
Experiencing displacement and resettlement can result in high levels of mental distress, and language barriers and difficulty in understanding how to access healthcare systems can make it difficult to find and access help. Now an NIHR ARC South West Peninsula-led collaboration is working to develop a peer-led community model to make finding help easier. The collaboration includes refugee communities, academic researchers and refugee services in Plymouth and Gloucester.
'Beyond demoralised' / New report outlines the extent of strain NHS staff are under
The NIHR ARC Yorkshire and Humber Improvement Academy has published a new report that details NHS staff experiences of working under prolonged intense pressure, as well as offers of support to individuals, teams and those in higher decision-making roles.
The Child of the North report / Building a fairer future after COVID-19
The Child of the North report, launched in December 2021, paints a bleak picture of inequality for children growing up in the North of England post-pandemic, compared to those in the rest of the country.

The report was produced by the Northern Health Science Alliance (NHSA) and N8 Research Partnership. It was written by over 40 leading academics from across the North of England, including contributors from the NIHR ARCs North East and North Cumbria, Yorkshire and Humber, Greater Manchester and North West Coast.
A tried and tested model / Putting Community Health Workers at the heart of primary care
Researchers from NIHR ARC Northwest London are transforming the face of primary care delivery by piloting a Community Healthcare Worker model in Northwest London with the aim of rolling it out across the country. In this model, Community Health Workers become ‘the ears and eyes of the GP in the community’, helping to embed the delivery of primary care into everyday life. The Community Healthcare Worker model is a tried and tested way of working, originally devised in Brazil in the 1990s.
New Year’s Honours List / ARC East Midlands Director awarded CBE
Professor Kamlesh Khunti, Director of NIHR ARC East Midlands, has been awarded a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the New Year’s Honours List. Professor Khunti has been responsible for major advances in type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular diseases and receives the award having published more than 1,000 academic papers. He is also the founding Director of the Centre for Ethnic Health Research and the University of Leicester Real World Evidence Unit.
NHS Insights Prioritisation Programme (NIPP) / Research partnerships to support post-pandemic health and care priorities
ARCs have partnered with their local Academic Health Science Networks (AHSNs) to accelerate the evaluation and implementation of 14 promising innovations. These innovations support post-pandemic ways of working, build service resilience and deliver benefits to patients. The NIPP launched in November 2021, with each project expected to deliver rapid insights by March 2023.
Optimising neighbourhood vaccination activity in Greater Manchester

NIHR ARC Greater Manchester and Health Innovation Manchester have been jointly awarded £275,000 funding for a NIPP project to examine barriers to vaccination uptake across the region and learn from local approaches undertaken to overcome these.
Improving remote monitoring for healthcare

NIHR ARC East of England and Eastern AHSN have been awarded almost £275,000 funding for a NIPP project. Together, they will assess the impact of remote monitoring technology on health services and patients to ensure that people with a wide range of conditions can be supported at home and in the community.
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Levelling up health / New report offers practical guidance on reducing health inequalities at a local and regional level
A new guide - Levelling Up Health: A practical evidence-based framework – offers practical suggestions on how to reduce health inequalities at a local and regional level. The guide, produced by researchers at the NIHR ARCs North East and North Cumbria and East of England, is based on decades of research around tackling health inequalities at local and regional levels. It is aimed at those in central and local government as well as other agencies with a stake in improving health.
Protecting rights / Organisations call for an end to isolation in care
A coalition of organisations representing both care providers and users, including social care researchers at NIHR ARC South London, have written to local health and care leaders calling on them to end harmful isolation practices for people in care. The joint letter highlights the severe, detrimental impact isolation from family and friends can have on people living in care and the key role local leaders play in protecting these people's rights. 
Research findings / Vaccination uptake was the biggest barrier to care home visits restarting
Variability in COVID-19 vaccination uptake by care home staff and family carers was the biggest barrier to care home visits resuming during the pandemic, suggests research led by NIHR ARC North West Coast and the University of Liverpool. This was exacerbated by a lack of help and advice on implementing government guidance, meaning individual care homes were left to interpret the limited guidance themselves and make decisions on how and when visits should be restarted.
Enabling healthier choices / How can schools help prevent childhood overweight and obesity?
A realist review from NIHR ARC West has shed light on the factors that could make childhood obesity prevention interventions effective. The review revealed that being older, being a girl and having educated parents seemed to be important background factors for many interventions to work. However, educating children about health alone was not a feature that seemed to lead to positive change. Environmental changes, such as changing the layout of the food in the canteen, enabled healthier choices without pushing responsibility onto the child.
Addressing mental health of young people / Mental Health Support teams develop a whole school approach
A recent review led by Kent, Surrey and Sussex AHSN in partnership with the NIHR ARC Kent, Surrey and Sussex, demonstrates the potential of Mental Health Support teams to transform school communities through developing a whole school approach to mental health. The report highlights many positive achievements from the work as well as setting out seven key ambitions for the approach going forward.
Medicine optimisation / New research examines risk of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug-related acute kidney injury
New research from NIHR ARC Wessex identifies that some people at high risk of acute kidney injury are still being prescribed non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), despite evidence showing that NSAID complications include acute kidney injury. These findings support targeted NSAID deprescribing efforts in high-risk groups and highlight which patients are most at risk.
Research findings / MILESTONE Trial publishes findings on transitions from child to adult mental health services
Findings from the MILESTONE trial (Managing the Link and Strengthening Transition from Child to Adult Mental Health Care in Europe) have recently been published, led by Professor Swaran Singh from NIHR ARC West Midlands. The project was developed to help improve the quality of transitional care from child and adolescent mental health services to adult services, and to reduce the number of young people falling through the gap between services.
Outstanding contributions to healthcare / Digital programme for Covid recovery shortlisted for HSJ Partnership Award 2022
Living With Covid Recovery, a digital programme to provide effective and cost-effective rehabilitation to people affected by the long-lasting symptoms of COVID-19, has been shortlisted for the Health Service Journal (HSJ) Partnership Awards 2022. The programme is supported by NIHR ARCs North Thames and Wessex. The Awards recognise outstanding contributions to healthcare. Winners will be announced on 24 March.
PANORAMIC study / Recruitment begins for national community COVID-19 antiviral trial
Researchers from the University of Oxford have started recruiting participants for a first-of-its-kind clinical trial to test novel antiviral COVID-19 treatments for use early on in the illness by people with COVID-19 and those who are at higher risk of complications. The research is a partnership involving several UK universities and the NHS UK-wide. NIHR ARC Oxford and Thames Valley is supporting the trial and its associated activates, including reaching out to ethnically diverse communities.
Blogs and opinion
Digging into the data / Effects of COVID-19 on routine services
During the first period of COVID-19 lockdown in the UK, a number of newspaper articles reported massive reductions in hospital access and disruption of routine services. In response to this, ARC West Midlands conducted various database studies to look at the effects, if any, COVID-19 was having on routine services in England.
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“I’m not living, merely existing” / Researching the importance of independence for older people
PhD student Emily Taylor reflects on how her experience of working in the care sector influences her research and her hopes for its impact.

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How was it for you? / Community involvement in ARC South London’s maternity research: some unexpected benefits of COVID-19 ways of working
Zenab Barry, Rachael Buabeng, Vita Moltedo and Mary Newburn explore community involvement in ARC South London's maternity and perinatal mental health research during the pandemic.
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“I still need that wee” / From the pressures of clinical life to having time to ‘conceptualise’
Elaine Willmore is Head of Research and Development for Therapy at Gloucestershire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, and has recently started her ARC West PhD with the University of Gloucestershire, looking at social prescribing. Here she reflects on her first few months developing her research question and the change in gear her new academic life has brought.
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Creating the CUREd dataset / A real world linked data for urgent and emergency care
In this blog, NIHR ARC Yorkshire and Humber’s Urgent and Emergency Care theme look at real world linked dataset ‘The CUREd Database’ and its potential to provide solutions to the challenges facing urgent and emergency care.
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Remaining hopeful / The public’s voice can act as a catalyst for change
Health inequalities are differences in health outcomes and burden of illness. They are closely linked to disadvantage due to geographical location, age, gender, race and socio-economic status. In this blog, ARC North West Coast Public Adviser Irum Durrani writes about how the public’s voice can act as a catalyst for change in tackling these health inequalities
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In conversation / My experience of being a Public Advisor
Kat Frere-Smith, ARC Kent, Surrey and Sussex's Public and Community Involvement and Engagement Co-ordinator, talks with Karin Webb, Living Well with Dementia Theme Public Advisor about what it is like to be a Theme Public Advisor. Karin, a former carer for a family member who suffered with vascular dementia explains why she wanted to become a Public Advisor and what it means to her.
Watch the video
Child of the North / Building a fairer future after COVID-19
In this new blog, ARC Greater Manchester Economic Sustainability Lead, Professor Matt Sutton and Dr Luke Munford from the team, write about their work around how COVID-19 has interacted with existing inequalities in health, education and productivity among children in the North.
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The heart of the matter / How I overcame my fears to win recognition for nurse research
Each year in Dr Rosalynn Austin's research career has brought new challenges. In this blog she writes about how she overcame her fears to make a difference.
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Events and opportunities
Short course / Preparing for Implementation and Knowledge Exchange

27 January, 2pm - 3:30pm

Location: Online
Join NIHR ARC East Midlands for their short course on how to make your research findings ‘go places’. This short course is led by Dr Neil Chadborn.
Survey / Share your experiences to support families in temporary accommodation

Deadline: 14 February
The CHAMPIONS Project is a nationwide study funded by the ESRC and supported by NIHR ARC North Thames, looking to understand and address the challenges that children under five in temporary accommodation have faced during the pandemic. You are invited to share your professional experiences and insights to help produce recommendations for health services to better support these families.
Short course / Systematic Review overview

2 February, 1:30pm - 3:30pm

Location: Online
The aim of this workshop is to provide a comprehensive overview of the purpose and methodology for conducting systematic reviews of quantitative and qualitative evidence. The workshop is led by Dr Ffion Curtis.
Short course / Implementation Science / Research Frameworks

9 February, 10am - 12pm

Location: Online
This short course will introduce why implementation of new (evidence-based) treatments or programmes is problematic in health care. We will then look at the emerging discipline of implementation science which seeks to understand why these problems occur and what can be done about them. The workshop is led by Professor Stephen Timmons.
Lunchtime Seminar / Matt Westmore, Chief Executive of the Health Research Authority

9 February 2022, 12:45pm - 1:45pm

Location: Online
Matt Westmore, Chief Executive of the Health Research Authority (HRA), will present at this NIHR ARC South West Peninsula online seminar. Matt will give an overview of the HRA’s work, including resolving misunderstandings about what the HRA does and doesn’t need to review as well as covering plans for future work.
Short course / Qualitative Interviews and Focus Groups

10 February, 10am - 12pm

Location: Online
Drawing on academic approaches and personal experience, this session will provide an overview of how to conduct qualitative interviews and focus groups in Health Service Research. It will provide an introduction to the ways in which interviews and focus groups are used in qualitative health research and offer some insights for good practice. The session is led by Dr Charlotte Overton and Dr Liz Sutton.
Short course / Critical Appraisal Skills

22 February, 10am - 12pm

Location: Online
This session will move through the different stages of collecting evidence and then deciding what’s relevant as well as what tools we can use to help us. The session will be solely based on healthcare evidence and will briefly consider the grey literature as well as the accepted academic sources. We will also talk about predatory journals and pre-print materials which is a growing area. The session is led by Dr Kathryn Hinsliff-Smith.
Conference / Centre for Dementia Studies Research Conference

23 - 24 February, 10am - 4pm

Location: Online
Join ARC Kent, Surrey and Sussex for a two day event showcasing the latest in dementia research hosted by Professor Naji Tabet, Director, Centre for Dementia Studies. There will be a range of speakers (with a mix of live and pre-recorded presentations) focusing on key themes of implementation of findings in clinical services and improving quality of life for people with dementia and their families.
Workshop / HDR UK North Digital Care Homes Workshop

4 March, 10am - 12:30pm

Location: Hilton Leeds City, Leeds
The Health Data Research (HDR) UK North Digital Care Homes Project is evaluating the impact of new technologies in care homes that facilitate digital referrals for residents who become unwell. This workshop will disseminate interim findings from the study through a series of presentations. It will also be an opportunity for attendees to discuss the findings and help guide the future priorities of the project and beyond.
Short course / Implementing Change – practical know how

9 March, 10am - 12pm

Location: Online
In this session, we’ll discuss some of the operational aspects of implementation, such as identifying your audience, developing a strong value proposition, and actually knowing what ‘thing’ is resulting from your work. Informed by implementation science, but probably more akin to product development and marketing, the session will make most sense for individuals / teams who have something (in development or finished) that is implementation ready. The session is led by Dr Emma Rowley.
Short course / Systematic Review

Workshop 1: 16 March, 10am - 12pm
Workshop 2: 4 May, 10am - 12pm

Location: Online
Workshop 1: Discussion of the resources required to conduct a systematic review, development of a systematic review protocol (including getting it registered/ published), search strategies and comprehensive literature searching.

Workshop 2: Discussion on data extraction tools, understanding the role of critical appraisal and risk of bias, synthesising the evidence and effective communication of findings for different target audiences.
Save the date / Implementation Science Research Conference 2022

14 and 15 July

Location: Online
This year, ARC South London will host its 5th International Implementation Science Research Conference. The theme is: “Beyond trials: the rise of pragmatic approaches to implementation science in health and social care research.” Read about last year's conference

Register your interest. Email: arcshortcourses@kcl.ac.uk 
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