Authors: A.M. Aries; L. Wallace; R. Burgess, T. Hadley-Barrows, S Evans and R. Leslie

 

 

A little over a year ago the Research ABC project was born following Dr Ros Leslie’s successful Clinical Research Network (CRN) West Midlands[1]* Improvement and Innovation Strategic Funding bid. Ros is the Chief Allied Health Professional (AHP) at The Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust (RWT), and currently on secondment as interim Chief AHP for the Black Country Integrated Care System (ICS).

 

Research ABC was an eight-month project undertaken from August 2023 to March 2024. Funding for this RWT-led project enabled the Black Country ICS to understand research-readiness amongst the AHP workforce, support development of research skills through bespoke training, and increase research capacity. We knew that the evidence collated during this project would be essential to securing substantive commitment to support continued collaborative working between the provider organisations in the ICS, hopefully resulting in dedicated investment for important, sustainable resourcing and infrastructure to support ongoing AHP research.

 

As a team we have reflected upon the success of the Research ABC project, which was led by Dr Ali Aries, AHP Research Lead at The Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust (RWT). When the project began, Ali was relatively new to her role. She described this project as “an exciting and rewarding opportunity to work with so many AHPs keen to be involved in research, especially the proactive project team and the 93 Research Champions who stepped forward to help drive AHP research”.

 

Ali remarked how, one year later people still refer to her as a point of contact:

“I continue to facilitate AHPs and other professions to develop their research skills and engage in research activities. The new REACH (Research Engagement And CHat) sessions are proving to be a great, friendly forum for multidisciplinary research discussions and networking. Holding these at a regular time each month has enabled people to drop in on Teams, ask their questions and share their experiences. It has been great to see AHPs grow in confidence and take on new roles e.g. Principal Investigator positions, and to apply for dedicated Research Masters programmes. Some AHPs have also published articles for the first time. This is the start of a new generation of AHP researchers in our area”.

 

Louise Wallace was delighted to be seconded from The Dudley Group NHS Foundation Trust (DGFT) Musculoskeletal (MSK) Physiotherapy team to the Research ABC team for the duration of the project. Lou is proud of all that the team achieved in such a short space of time, to drive forward research skills and opportunities for AHPs across the Black Country. Benefitting from her own new opportunities – Lou presented at the Physiotherapy Research Society Conference and at the DGFT Research Seminar, as well as submitting a poster, which was accepted for the Chartered Society of Physiotherapy conference in October 2024.

Lou said: “Without Research ABC, I would never have had the confidence or skills to push myself to rise to these challenges.

“Since returning to DGFT in April, I have set up an AHP multi-disciplinary research champion group, I am developing an MSK Critically Appraised Topic group and Journal Club within our team and have provided similar training to the DGFT radiology team on how to get started in these research skills. I am also involved in establishing a Patient and Public Involvement group, to inform service developments. My role has changed so that I now have half a day per week, as protected time, to support our team to be research users, to meet our research pillar of practice and fulfil our team vision of providing outstanding clinical care to our patients”.

 

Roanna Burgess currently works as an AHP Consultant and MSK Service lead at Sandwell and West Birmingham (SWB) NHS Trust, and also as a Senior Research Fellow at Keele University. She is just about to take up a Senior Clinical and Practitioner Research Award (SCPRA) funded by the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) to support post-doctoral clinical academics to combine their clinical and research roles.

Ro feels that the Research ABC project gave her a better understanding of AHP training needs and support to set up SWB’s first Community of Research Practice (CoRP), which has seen good uptake and feedback so far. She also feels it could be expanded to include additional partners to maximise expertise and training opportunities within the Black Country. These supportive environments help to bring the research community together to play an active role in increasing research capabilities, opportunities, and networking within our NHS settings.

Ro adds that AHPs and non-medical professionals now have a voice in research plans, objective setting, and strategy development within her Trust and across the system and hopes that we can continue to work together to deliver AHP Research Leaders for the future.

Ro explained: “Although my role has not changed since being part of the project team, the Research ABC project has allowed us to join forces across the Black Country System and facilitated respective NHS Trusts to work together to improve opportunities for AHPs in research”.

 

Tina Hadley-Barrow’s portfolio role includes being an MSK Consultant Physiotherapist at RWT and a Knowledge Mobilisation practitioner at the Keele University Impact Accelerator Unit. These roles bridge the gap between research and practice, giving insight and experiences from both the research and clinical worlds. Tina urged: “I would recommend that anyone with an interest in research looks out for these excellent career development opportunities to expand their research activity”.

Tina was thrilled to be part of such an inspirational team of colleagues working on the Research ABC project. She described how learning about the challenges our AHP colleagues across the Black Country face, with regards to participating in research activity and working together to provide training, support and highlighting awareness of research opportunities and activities for all, has been very rewarding.

Highlighting the benefits of the Keele Critically Appraised Topic (CAT) groups supporting timely translation of research evidence into practice, Tina said: “Planning a Keele CAT in A Day training day, funded by Research ABC, is a great opportunity for all of our AHPs. I am really looking forward to seeing many of our AHP colleagues from across the Black Country at this training day!”

 

Sharon Evans supported the team on a day-to-day basis and was integral to the smooth running of the Research ABC activities. She also gained from being part of the project team and expressed how she felt about being part of the Research ABC project work: “Working as admin support in the research ABC project was a fulfilling experience. I enjoyed contributing to the team’s success by ensuring everything ran smoothly and efficiently. The role allowed me to further develop my understanding of what research actually entailed, whilst gaining valuable insight into the complexity of working within a research project team. I am very proud of the team and all that was achieved, and continues to achieve”.

 

All the resources from the Research ABC training are still on the Research ABC project Team space and can be accessed by any member of staff across the six trusts. Ali regularly uploads research opportunities on there too.

Ros concluded: “The Research ABC project has made a huge impact on many people across the Black Country, initiating AHP drive to build research skills and capacity. Despite the project only being for eight months funded by a relatively small budget, it has had a ripple effect and influenced a large pool of AHPs. We are excited to see what the future will bring”

 

[1] Now the West Midlands Regional Research Delivery Network.