Allied Health Professionals offer new solutions

Chris Lovegrove, Clinical Lead Occupational Therapist and Clinical Research Fellow, has benefitted from a range of support from the NIHR to help him progress in his journey to become a leader in research delivery.

The NIHR NMAHP Clinical Research Fellowship has been designed to support individuals at various points of their development in becoming leading researchers, from initial pre-doctoral training to senior post-doctoral research. Chris has successfully completed the Fellowship and is now using his skills and knowledge to raise the profile of research within his Trust Royal Devon & Exeter Hospital and across the South West Peninsula.

Chris describes the important role Allied Health Professionals (AHPs) play in delivering research: “I think that the core focus of the profession; person-centred meaningful occupation, and participation, allow Occupational Therapists to approach research questions from a different perspective than medical research, and thus generate different solutions to our most challenging clinical questions.”

The Occupational Therapy role in delivering research is varied. Occupational Therapists can have roles in the direct delivery of studies i.e. data collection, recruitment, taking blood samples etc. through to acting as Principle Investigator and Chief Investigator.

Allied Health Professionals (AHPs) represent the third largest professional workforce in health and social care — their contributions are critical to the development and delivery of high quality, patient centred clinical research. With more AHPs developing early Chief Investigator pathways the capacity to deliver will be increased but also their unique insights based on clinical experience will help to diversify the range of research questions investigated.

Richard Collings, AHP Champion, said: “Chris is a shining example of how AHP’s can take the initiative and contribute to improving care provision. He is extremely dedicated to developing his expertise to enable him to work with patients and colleagues to embed research into clinical practice. Chris is an excellent advocate in supporting colleagues to widen their skills and a role model for others to follow his lead. “

Chris is currently working a range of studies including AQP4, Vision in Parkinson's Disease, ENLIST, PD-SKIN and is a a co-author on an NIHR funded systematic review exploring the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of multi-component hospital-led interventions to improve recovery following elective surgery in older adults. He describes his situation as a: “golden opportunity to contribute to research.”

Non-medical Allied Health Professionals (NMAHP) Clinical Academics can advance their practice, improve patient care, support research capacity and add to a balanced clinical research community that addresses patient need; this helps with recruitment and retention of high quality staff.

• To find out more and to get involved email: ahps@nihr.ac.uk
• For research training awards visit: Integrated Clinical Academic (ICA)
• Follow #AHPsInResearch

Discover more about Chris’s Work:

The effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of multi-component strategies to reduce the length of planned inpatient hospital stays of older adults.

This systematic review is the result of a 10-month project focusing on evaluating the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of hospital-led multicomponent interventions to reduce hospital length of stay for older adults undergoing planned procedures.

• Report: https://www.journalslibrary.nihr.ac.uk/hsdr/HSDR07400
• Podcast: https://anchor.fm/michael848/episodes/Episode-3-Reducing-the-Length-of-Hospital-Stay-for-Older-Adults-Admitted-for-Planned-Treatment-e9dvlh

Follow Chris on Twitter for more updates: @CLovegrove_OT