By Sarah Birch and Karen Jones
The Personal Social Services Research Unit (PSSRU) at the University of Kent leads the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) Policy Research Unit in Quality, Safety, and Outcomes for Health and Social Care (NIHR QSO PRU), in collaboration with the Universities of Oxford, Leeds, Bradford, and Picker.
The NIHR QSO PRU was awarded funding in 2024, following 5 years of collaborative research (2019-2023). Professor Julien (Jules) Forder led the QSO PRU together with Deputy Director Professor Ray Fitzpatrick until 2024 when unfortunately, both Jules and Ray passed away. The PSSRU’s Director, Professor Karen Jones, now leads the NIHR QSO PRU. Michele Peters is the Deputy Director of the PRU.
The NIHR QSO PRU is one of the ‘system-directed’ PRUs funded by NIHR, with a focus on the health and social care system. There are four interrelated research themes of safety, outcomes, resolution and experience.
In November, the NIHR QSO PRU team held a 1-day event in Canterbury, Kent to launch the Unit and to discuss current research and cross-cutting themes. This event was attended by researchers, research advisors, and representatives from the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) and Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC).
NIHR QSO PRU Launch Event:
The day started with a rolling presentation in tribute to our previous Director, Jules Forder and Deputy Director, Ray Fitzpatrick to the PRU. The presentation included photos, sentiments and information about their distinguished careers, their key achievements, as well as personable information about Jules and Ray outside of the world of academia.
Following our welcomes and introductions, Jason Cox (DHSC) and Chiara Gasparini (NIHR) shared information on the NIHR-funded Policy Research Units and the focus on research impact from the PRUs. Karen Jones then led the overview of the NIHR QSO PRU structure, aims, and research themes.
The morning was then spent talking about the PRU’s cross-cutting themes of Equality (Equity), Diversity and Inclusion (EDI, led by EDI champion Michele Peters), and Patient and Public Involvement and Engagement (PPIE, led by PPIE Manager Sarah Birch), with a round-table discussion to collate ideas on ‘How to embed PPIE and EDI in our Research’.
Following lunch, which allowed for time for networking and to view the NIHR QSO PRU 2019-2023 poster displays, we then had presentations from the NIHR QSO PRU research themes. Rebecca Lawton, Beth Fylan, Sally Prus, Lavanya Thana gave us an overview of ‘Understanding Martha’s Rule’, which is a research project to find out how Martha’s Rule is being delivered across 3 Trusts in England. The team will be talking to patients, families, healthcare managers, and staff to find out what they feel about Martha’s rule, how it is changing the way things are done, and what some of the factors are that help and hinder it working in practice.
Michele Peters discussed the 2 current projects under the Outcomes theme. Firstly, Michele will be working with colleagues from Picker, Chris Graham and Amy Tallett, and researchers James Caiels and Siabhainn Russell to research the development of a ‘Core Outcome Set’ for Integrated Care systems (ICS – local partnerships in England bringing health and care organisations together). By developing a Core Outcome Set, there is the potential to show ICSs what they are doing well or what they need to improve to ensure as many people as possible achieve better health. Secondly, Michele together with Stacey Rand and Siabhainn Russell will be exploring carer’s experience and outcomes when the person they care for was harmed by health or social care services. 
Linda Mulcahy then discussed her research in the resolution theme regarding ‘Accessing complaints’ and the complex pathways people can often follow during the complaints process.
The session concluded with a final round-table discussion of ‘How to ensure creative dissemination and how to maximise/demonstrate impact.’
We had a chance for discussion and questions after each presentation and this really helped the audience to discuss and find out more about:
- The long-term impact of research.
- How the PRU will support responsive mode research, especially when involving research advisors at short notice?
- Examples of the PRU supporting key evaluations for NHS England (‘Martha’s Rule’).
- The current public perception of integrated care (‘Outcome indicators for Integrated Care Systems’).
- The complexities of the current complaints system (‘Accessing Complaints’).
Feedback from the Launch Event
The feedback from the launch event has been very positive. Many colleagues enjoyed meeting each other face-to-face, as well as welcoming our researcher, Siabhainn Russell who was able to join our meeting and discussions through her robotic system.
We had great attendance from our research advisors (11 of our research advisors from our nationwide network were able to attend). Some researchers were able to meet the research advisors who would be joining the research team for the first time and have some valuable discussions prior to their next virtual meeting. Other researchers commented on how useful it was to speak to research advisors and find out about their networks, other roles and connections which may be useful for future health and social care research work;
‘it was a very enjoyable and informative event, and very well organised, I feel these events are very important to foster better and more natural and informed relationships and bonds between Public Contributors and Researchers, and also it is good to meet up with other Public Contributors, and get fresh perspectives and ideas.’
Some research advisors were able to feedback on how useful it was to hear about the NIHR QSO PRU structure and what the research areas will be, with one research advisors saying how
‘every speaker triggered ideas and prompted questions from me and others in the audience. It was so interesting and worthwhile. Each speaker brought a valuable insight into the NIHR QSO PRU, its aims, values and ambitions’. Another research advisor remarked on how ‘the new studies are most interesting and I exchanged several emails.’
Others were keen to find out more about what being a research advisor in NIHR QSO PRU means to them and registered their interest in sharing details of their research advisor role in a future PPIE newsletter.
What next for NIHR QSO PRU?
The NIHR QSO PRU launch event was the start in a series of in-person and online meetings with the team. With the focus now on research planning and delivery, the research teams will be moving forward with their research under the NIHR QSO PRU remit.
The feedback from the round-table discussions will be shared with the QSO PRU management team, with EDI and PPIE champions taking stock and moving forward with suggestions made during the launch event.
Disclaimer
This research is funded by the National Institute for Health and Social Care Research (NIHR) Policy Research Programme, conducted through the Quality, Safety, and Outcomes Policy Research Unit (PR-PRU-1217-206117). The views expressed are those of the author(s) and not necessarily those of the NIHR or the Department of Health and Social Care.