Chief AHP’s blog - The Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust

Celebrating research in the Black Country

By Ros Leslie

For this blog I’m joined by Pauline Boyle, Group Director of Research & Development at The Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust (RWT) and Walsall Healthcare NHS Trust (WHT).

The Black Country Integrated Care System (ICS) hosted its first Black Country Celebration of Research event at The Hawthorns in West Bromwich.

This collaborative celebration was established to showcase the incredible research and innovation by staff across primary and secondary care, and community and voluntary sectors.

Around 130 health and care professionals, volunteers, stakeholders, and academics joined us for a range of presentations and breakout sessions.

The morning session included the strategic vision for Black Country research.

Pauline Boyle, Group Director of Research & Development at The Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust and Walsall Healthcare NHS Trust, presents ‘A research strategy for the Black Country’ (left) and the RWT Research Team at the event

This was followed by six fascinating oral abstract presentations, chosen by a panel from the submitted abstracts.

These included:

An exploration of collaboration between Urology services in NHS Trusts
Monitoring long-term outcomes for cardiac rehabilitation patients
An exploration of Clinical Pharmacists’ perceived barriers and facilitators to supporting clinical research delivery in secondary care
The Research: Allied Health Professions Building Capacity Across the Black Country (Research ABC) project
The implementation of home handheld phototherapy in the NHS
Sequential cardiac monitoring methods for detecting atrial fibrillation in post-stroke patients

There was also an opportunity to celebrate patient and public involvement in research, and three patients shared their research experiences and outcomes.

The afternoon featured four breakout sessions under the theme of ‘celebrating your path in research’. These facilitated some useful discussions around key topics.

The highlight was the keynote speaker, Aaron Phipps. Great Britain’s first gold medal Paralympian in a team sport (wheelchair rugby) is an absolute inspiration to all.

Previously ranked in the UK’s top 100 most influential people with a disability, the keen charity fundraiser became the first disabled person to scale Mount Kilimanjaro unassisted, in aid of Meningitis Research Foundation.

He challenged us “to do something to make yourself resilient”. And he reminded us to never underestimate what we do in the NHS.

The celebration closed with the awards ceremony, hosted by Sir David Nicholson, CBE KCB Group Chair of RWT, Walsall Healthcare, Sandwell and West Birmingham NHS Trust and The Dudley Group NHS Foundation Trust.

These recognise teams or individuals who have made a significant improvement to our research environment, to support, recognise and celebrate research culture in the Black Country.

Presented by Aaron Phipps, the winners were:

Best Poster Award – Research ABC Project, led by Dr Ali Aries
Best Oral Abstract Award – Professor Viktoria Eleftheriadou, Consultant Dermatologist, WHT and RWT, who presented ‘Home handheld phototherapy in the NHS: implementation of evidence-based treatment in real world’
Chair’s Award – Chris Scordis, Clinical Exercise Physiologist, RWT, who presented ‘Monitoring long-term outcomes for patients adhering to supervised phase 4 exercise rehabilitation’

Pauline and I agreed the event was a real success in showcasing the achievements, contributions, and outcomes of Black Country research. It provided an opportunity to acknowledge and appreciate the hard work, dedication, and contributions of individuals and teams.