The Pears Cumbria School of Medicine Research Hub supports collaborative research projects, jointly led by investigators from the University of Cumbria, North Cumbria Integrated Care, and other NHS Trusts. Through our NIHR Imperial Biomedical Research Centre scheme, staff in Cumbria who are doctors, nurses, midwives, physiotherapists, other allied health professionals and health researchers are funded to undertake research that benefits NHS patients. The Research Hub provides opportunities for healthcare professionals in Cumbria to step into research, develop advanced skills and lead projects that benefit local NHS patients. Masters of Research, Pre-Doctoral and PhD Fellowships offer structured training and joint support from University and NHS supervisors, supported by NIHR Imperial BRC.
The Research Hub aims to promote healthcare and biomedical research in Cumbria region and addresses health priorities of this unique area’s community. The research projects spun across various areas of healthcare research from addressing maternity inequalities and examining leadership development among nurses and midwives to investigating heart failure underdiagnosis and cancer prehabilitation models for patients undergoing major cancer surgery in remote and coastal communities.
Several research projects are designed to examine patients’ experience of the healthcare. One of the projects, called Youth Co-research project, examines how young people in Cumbria can influence and shape future healthcare experiences through meaningful co-design. Bringing together young people, youth workers, healthcare professionals, and academics researcher aim to understand how communication between young people and healthcare providers affects access, confidence, and health outcomes. By exploring what supports or hinders meaningful engagement, they hope to inform more youth-led, person-centred, and locally responsive approaches to healthcare, including developing a set of communication principles for medical education, alongside the first cohort of medical students at the Pears Cumbria School of Medicine.
SHARPIES project (Sharing Hospital Admission Risks with Patients in Emergency Care Settings) is reviewing international experience on how hospital admission risks are understood and communicated. This research is particularly valuable in a county of rural and coastal communities, where the nearest hospital can be a long journey from home and the hospital stay can carry risk of its own, especially for elderly patients. The findings of the study will be brought together to design a shared decision-making toolkit: a practical aid to help clinicians and patients talk openly about the risks and benefits of admission that will help decide the care and treatment that is right for them. Open conversations could help people avoid hospital stays they do not need, protect their independence, keep care closer to home and ease pressure on urgent and emergency services.
You can find more details about the Research Hub here.