Collaborative partnerships for healthier lives: Getting research into practice
In October we brought together our team, partners and stakeholders with an interest in achieving improvements in health behaviours and population health for one of our bi-annual Collaborative Learning Events that focussed on collaboration and translating evidence into practice.
An focus on social learning
The events put an emphasis on social interaction as an important part of effective learning, this idea was taken even further for this instalment as the theme for the event explored ‘Collaborative partnerships for healthier lives: Getting research into practice.’
Over 80 attendees packed into Weston Hall at University of West London for the half day event. The agenda was packed and opened with a keynote speech from Dr Nav Chana, Clinical Director and former Chair of the National Association of Primary Care. In his thought provoking talk he explored new ways of working in the context of modern healthcare and asked what collaborative practice means for healthcare professionals.
He said: “It was a pleasure to attend the ARC NWL Collaborative Learning Event. I was really impressed with the wealth of knowledge of the speakers I heard, facilitators and participants.
In my talk I welcomed the opportunity to consider the learning from several policy initiatives dating back over many years with the intention to improve population health and mitigate health inequalities with reference to a few specific care model approaches.
In essence learning from these is often limited arguably in part to the way we design the research and evaluate approaches which may not always address the challenge of the complex nature of healthcare ‘systems’ approaches to delivery.
This may need exploring further complex system models of research and evaluation so that we understand better those interventions that may in time lead to improvements in population health outcomes.”
Research themes collaborate
Each of our research theme has a specific area of focus and programme of research to progress it. There are, however, often fascinating overlaps and collaborations between our themes, these were used as the basis for our breakout sessions during the day. Attendees got to choose to attend two collaborative sessions delivered jointly by our research themes with the exception of our Ethnicity and Health Unit whose broad programme covers many aspects of our theme’s work.
The breakout sessions included:
The meaning and value of collaboration from a cross-sectoral perspective
During the session, Connie Junghans and James Quayle discussed how collaboration and working across the sector are contributing to the success of the Community Health and Wellbeing Worker programme in Westminster and its spread to other UK localities. They shared how ARC NWL supported the project and facilitated interactions among the stakeholders involved. Workshop participants were then invited to share their experiences and perceptions about how the collaboration with ARC NWL could benefit their work and the wider community.
Understanding and reducing harm from multiple medications: Polypharmacy, overprescribing and deprescribing
Advances in medical treatment offer improved prospects for patients, but can also do harm if not used appropriately. When people have multiple conditions, they may be prescribed multiple medications. Understanding the purpose of multiple medications is key for the patient and the clinical staff involved in their care. Together, they can acknowledge potential harms, and take a clear informed approach to optimising medications for the patient, to reduce the risk of adverse outcomes and improve patient health.
In this session the themes introduced these topics, presented their progress to date, and engaged attendees with their ongoing work.
Digital health, remote consulting and child frequent attendance – impact and opportunities
The term ‘frequent attenders’ has been used to refer to a small group of individuals who are disproportionate users of health system resources in terms of hospital or primary care clinical contacts. It is recognised that frequent attendance of children is associated with particular characteristics, distinct from adult frequent attenders, and that this behaviour likely represents unmet healthcare need in terms of access to or provision of care. The recent dramatic shift towards remote consulting necessitated by the pandemic, as well as the increasing availability of digital technologies in healthcare, is likely to have impact on both the occurrence and management of frequent attendance.
Researchers from the themes outlined findings of their work relevant to this area to date, as well as some potential avenues for further exploration, before asking members of the audience to participate in a focused discussion examining questions including:
What is the likely impact of remote consulting on frequently attending children across health settings? And how could this be best investigated in our local population)?
How can any negative impact be addressed? What can we learn from any positive impact in terms of future health policy / intervention development?
More broadly, how can the power of technology be harnessed to address the problem of frequent attendance?
The Ethnicity and Health Unit (EHU) workshop which introduced delegates to the Unit by describing it’s development, why it is needed, what it has delivered and looked at opportunities for delegates to become involved in current and future work of the EHU.
They also discussed key themes from the pivotal EHU BMJ publication, which looked at: Tackling racism in UK health research
Supporting a culture of learning
The events are delivered by our Collaborative Learning and Capacity Building Theme as part of their programme that brings people together across sectors, disciplines and backgrounds to pursue learning and research that improves health and care delivery.
‘It was valuable to see old friends and new colleagues coming together at our collaborative learning event to explore Collaborative partnerships for healthier lives: getting research into practice. It’s key for us to make this connection, how can we support our colleagues in the NHS to answer the research questions that are essential to great care. Building capacity to support the application of research into practice is a key part of our theme’s work.’ Said Rowan Myron, Education Lead, ARC NWL which delivered an interactive 'Learning Lab' with Dr Esther Kwong which explored systems thinking and complex adaptive systems.
Developing collaborative partnerships
Finally the event was rounded off with a lively panel discussion with panellists that featured Dr Gary Davies (Hospital Medical Director for Chelsea And Westminster Hospital), Dr Connie Junghans (GP and Public Health Specialist), Dr Matt Harris (Senior Clinical Lecturer in Public Health) and Alex Silverstein (Deputy Head of NHS diabetes transformation NWL and former ARC NWL Improvement Leader Fellow). Alex commented:
“It was great to attend the ARC NWL Collaborate Learning Event and talk about how to translate research into practice with like minded peers across Northwest London. It was also nice to meet those completing a fellowship and hear about their innovative approaches to health improvement. I also built new relationships and plan to work with some of the people I met at the event to improve the work I do.”
For more follow the event hashtag on Twitter: #Research2Practice
Join us at the next event
The next Collaborative Learning Event will be held in May 2023.
Keep an eye on our events page, sign up for our newsletter or follow us on Twitter for more details.
Involved Themes
This event involved all our research and cross-cutting themes and was organised and led by our Collaborative Learning & Capacity Building Theme.