2024: Our Year in Review

This past year has been a remarkable journey of collaboration for UEA Health and Social Care Partners, and its members.

Our collective efforts have led to transformative outcomes, ground-breaking research projects that inform evidence-based practices, and targeted initiatives that promote equity and inclusion.

As we look back on this year, it’s clear that the shared commitment to innovation and compassion has made a meaningful difference in the region, and we are excited to build on this momentum in the future.

You can review the news articles in full by clicking on the title.

January

PPI and Scoping Review about GP services offered at Front door of A&E: Q&A with Dr. Paul Everden, North Norfolk Primary Care

Dr. Paul Everden took the time to speak with us about the PPISCOREV project, and how the positive effects of GPFD (GP Front Door) has had on the Emergency Department and the plans for the future of the project.

Better and Faster Medical Treatment: Point-of-Care 3D Printing Research Group Impact Case Studies

The Point-of-Care 3D Printing Research group was awarded two grants from UEA Health and Social Care Partners in 2022 and 2023 to conduct evaluation and proof-of-concept research on setting up a regional point-of-care medical 3D printing service to serve all regional NHS hospitals.

Primary care practice at accident and emergency departments: PPISCOREV Project Impact Case Study

The PPI and scoping review for GP at Front Door of Accident and Emergency services (PPISCOREV) project was awarded a grant by UEA Health and Social Care Partners in 2022 to undertake two strands of research; a systematic review of studies about primary care professionals (GPs or NPs) delivering treatment in A&E’s and begin conversations with members of the public to understand why patients use A&E rather than GP services.

February

Point of Care 3D Printing Workshop at the Quadram Institute

On Monday 5 February we hosted a Point-of-Care 3D Printing Workshop at the Quadram Institute, Norwich Research Park.

New £1.1 million grant to improve well-being of teens in care

Dr Simon P Hammond, lead of UEA Health and Social Care Partner’s Looked After Children’s Mental Health Research Network (LANTERN), has been granted £1.1 million for a project looking at the use of Life Story Work (LSW) for teenagers in care.

Morag Farquhar leads popular webinar about the Carer Support Nurse project

On Thu 15 February 2024, Professor Morag Farquhar led an engaging webinar to disseminate the findings from the Carer Support Nurse project; over 100 delegates signed up to the webinar.

Bee Smart Media Literacy Programme: Improving the media literacy of care leavers

Dr Simon P Hammond (EDU), Gabriel Markovich (MED) and Dr Kimberley J Bartholomew (EDU) have recently published the “Bee Smart Media Literacy Programme: Improving the media literacy of care leavers” report.

March

An Opportunity to Improve Quality of Care: Sheng Qi on the Importance of Point of Care 3D Medical Printing for the East of England

Professor Sheng Qi, Professor of Pharmaceutical Material Science and Technology at the University of East Anglia, provided insight into Point of Care 3D Medical Printing and how this service is transforming patient care, and how this research is driving towards a localised 3D printing service for the East of England.

Overcoming Barriers to Achieve Health Goals: TOSCA Project Impact Case Study

The Technology to Support Change (TOSCA) project was awarded a grant by UEA Health and Social Care Partners in 2022 to run a series of focus groups aimed at understanding the views of young people with complications of obesity around technology to support their journey within the Complications from Excessive Weight (CEW) service.

The Dermatology Initiative That Could Reduce NHS Wait Lists

Giving GPs cameras to photograph skin complaints could help slash wait times for hospital appointments according to a new service evaluation from the University of East Anglia.

April

CELDA Project Hosts Online Event for Social Work Week

On Friday 22nd March, the CELDA project team hosted their online event; Care Experience Improvements for people with a Learning Disability and / or Autism.

Effective Interventions for Sleep Difficulties: The Better Sleep Programme's Impact Case Study

The Better Sleep Programme (TBSP) was awarded a grant by UEA Health and Social Care Partners in 2022, with the focus on making it easier for young people to access help for sleep difficulties across the wider health and social care system, spanning prevention and early intervention, community support and urgent and emergency care (including CYP crisis provision) and incorporating NSFT, primary care, social care and Voluntary, Community and Social Enterprise (VCSE) services.

Improving a Young Person’s Sleep – The Key to Better Mental Health?

Dr Rebecca Rollinson is a Clinical Psychologist working for NSFT and Lead for The Better Sleep Programme. With an enthusiasm for improving the sleep of young people Rebecca developed the programme to provide training, workshops and supervision to increase access to treatment and raise awareness and knowledge of the impact of good quality sleep for young people with mental health difficulties.

Dr Guy Peryer leads Compassionate Communities event

On 27 March, Dr Guy Peryer, lead of UEAHSCP's Palliative Care research group, hosted a community-focused event aimed at strengthening communities' palliative care provision.

May

Carer Support Nurse Pilot to Deliver Oral Presentation at the RCN International Nursing Research Conference 2024

The award-winning Carer Support Nurse initiative has been selected to present at the RCN International Nursing Research Conference 2024 in September.

Empowering Patients with Accessible Information: BISON Project's Impact Case Study

The Brain Injury diScharge infOrmatioN (BISON) project was awarded a grant by UEA Health and Social Care Partners in 2022 to develop an online patient-facing portal that will provide personalised gold-standard information about recovery following mild traumatic brain injury.

New Technology But Old-Fashioned Nursing: The Key Findings in the EV-WUDS Study

The Expansion of Virtual Wards Using Data Science (EV-WUDS) project was awarded a grant by UEA Health and Social Care Partners in 2022 to establish Trusted Research Environments (TRE) computing environment which multiple partners can use to perform data science activities and methods; to prove the value of joined up data sets across multiple organisations; to demonstrate exemplar data science approaches to virtual ward evaluation; to validate predictive models as they relate to virtual ward activity.

More Can Be Done At National Level: The CHARMING project's Impact Case Study

Co-production of Promising Interventions to Support Multiple Behaviour Change in Socially Deprived Communities (CHARMING) is a project to co-produce interventions supporting multiple behaviour change in socially deprived communities. It focuses on the ‘big four’ behaviours: unhealthy diets, smoking, physical inactivity, and excessive alcohol consumption.

The pathway to developing and delivering a mobile phone application into the NHS: The Walk-A-Cise story

Philip Stather is a consultant Vascular Surgeon at NNUH. Alongside treating patients with arterial and venous disease, he undertakes clinical trials and innovation work, developing the Walk-A-Cise mobile phone application to provide remote exercise therapy and clinical devices for venous ulceration. Alongside this he is the NIHR CRN Surgical Specialty Lead and collaborates on several basic science projects with colleagues across the Norwich research Park. He also runs TeachMeSurgery.

June

Understanding the Needs of Young People with Mental Health: The ANSWERS Project's Impact Case Study

ANSWERS is an observational cohort study, aiming to collect early comprehensive mental health and social determinant information across multiple timepoints with 250 representative young people with pre-existing mental health needs across Norfolk and Suffolk.

July

East of England Ambulance Service to co-host 999 EMS Research Forum in Cambridge

Associate Partner member the East of England Ambulance Service NHS Trust is co-hosting a conference with Swansea University called 999 EMS research: Recognising Progress, Developing the Future.

Piloting a Novel Award-Winning Carer Support Nurse Role: an Online Seminar

Professor Morag Farquhar from the School of Health Sciences, University of East Anglia and Karen Murphy, Carer Support and Community Nurse with East Coast Community Health Care, speak to Australian university Flinders University, to talk about the Carer Support Nurse Role Pilot in the East of England.

Introducing our Newest Associate Member, Health Innovation East

Health Innovation East is one of 15 regional Health Innovation Networks that support the introduction of innovative technologies, devices, and care pathways to transform health and care.

CELDA Project Thematic Analysis Findings and Releases Risk Matrix Summary

A qualitative study was conducted to investigate the poor care received by people with learning disabilities and/or Autism in residential care homes which subsequently closed, as well as the trauma that the staff caring for them experienced whilst supporting these closures.

August

Social Work Research in Practice in Norfolk, a Blog from the CELDA Project

CELDA project lead, Vikki Bunting, reflects on the project and its subsequent findings in a blog post entitled “The Spiral Staircase”.

Scholarship Recipient to Present at the Fragility Fracture Network Regional Congress

Melissa Taylor was one of UEA Health and Social Care Partner’s Scholarship Awards recipients, leading on their project The 7-Day Decision Point Model for Multidisciplinary Teams Supporting Patients with Femoral Fracture.

September

TYKES Team is Looking to Learn About Children Using Video Sharing Platforms

The TYKES team are interested in learning about how parents/carers in Norfolk view how children under the age of 6 are using (or not) video sharing platforms like YouTube, YouTube Kids, TikTok, etc.

LIMITLESS II aims to improve the accessibility, consistency and quality of life story with teens in care

LIMITLESS II is looking to hear from teens ages 12-18 years old, carers, and social workers across the Kinship, Foster and Residential care and social workers who support these groups across Norfolk and Suffolk.

October

Working on Worries Project Supports 189 Families to Reduce the Impact of Anxiety on Children

In 2019, a research team from Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust led by Tim Clarke, Brioney Gee, Jon Wilson and Bonnie Teague was awarded seed corn funding from UEA Health and Social Care Partners (UEAHSCP), alongside an NIHR Applied Research Collaboration East of England (ARC) implementation fellowship, to develop engaging training resources and sessions to upskill school staff to deliver a programme for parents and carers to support their child’s mental health.

Our UEAHSCP Impact Case Report

We proudly presented our UEA Health and Social Care Partners Research Impact Report, which featured impact case studies from a variety of projects that received funding from our Research Capacity Building Programme Funding Calls.

Compassionate Communities: Why Dying is a Social Event with a Medical Component, Not a Medical Event with a Social Component: Reflecting on the 95% Rule

This research aims to spread Death Literacy. This is practical know-how about what to do, where to seek help, and how to plan for death. It covers practical issues about how to access support in your local neighbourhood, and public messages to help educate and resolve uncertainties.

Introducing Our Newest Associate Partner, MensCraft

MensCraft is a Norfolk-based charity with an exclusive focus on men’s health and wellbeing.

Navigating Involuntary Care Home Closures: Professional Perspectives and Thematic Analysis of Failures in Norfolk

The Care Quality Commission is responsible for regulating care homes across England to make sure that residents are respected and provided for. But what happens when they find a home who are not doing this?

November

Patients find it useful to receive quit-smoking help while at hospital accident and emergency

Giving out vapes at accident and emergency (A&E) departments in England and Scotland boosted patients' confidence to switch away from smoking, according to new research.

UEA receives £1.5m Greater Norwich Growth Board funding boost for School of Oral Health

The University of East Anglia has released a news article on their website, which has also been picked up and published on the Eastern Daily Press, Norfolk’s local paper, detailing how they have received a fund of £1.5m from the Greater Norwich Growth Board (GNGB) to build a new facility, moving it one step closer to the delivery of a School of Oral Health.

December

Improving Climate Psychological Preparedness for Coastal Communities: The RIPPLE Project's Impact Case Study

The RIPPLE project focused on two contrasting at-risk communities on the North Norfolk Coast: Mundesley and Walcott. Community surveys assessing psychological preparedness for climate change risk were conducted alongside in-depth qualitative interviews.

NR 4ward: Maximising the Impact of Research Through Driving Innovation

The UEA has gained funding from Research England to set up a pilot programme to support staff and postgraduate researchers in UEA and across Norwich Research Park in maximising the impact of innovation and research by achieving business success.

All of us at UEA Health and Social Care Partners would like to wish you a Happy Holiday season and we look forward to working alongside you in 2025.