Research Activities
NHS National Institute for Health Research Grant
Prof Angela Harden, Professor of Community and Family Health at the Institute for Health and Human Development and Newham University Hospital NHS Trust (NUHT), has received a one year Programme Development Grant of £96,000 from the NHS National Institute for Health Research. The grant is for pioneering research into access to antenatal care, for which Prof Harden will be the principal investigator. The project is a collaboration between the university and NUHT and the Institute of Education at the University of London.
The title of the project is: ‘Achieving equity in access to antenatal care: a research and development programme to understand and overcome the barriers’. The proposed research programme aims to:
a) better understand the complex challenges faced in delivering equity in access to antenatal care among highly socially disadvantaged and ethnically diverse communities with complex medical and social needs;
b) generate new evidence about differential levels of access and the how the service configuration, referral system, and cultural, social and economic position of women in Newham influence these;
c) use this local evidence and the wider evidence base to work with local women and service providers to develop interventions/service innovations to improve access to, and experiences of, antenatal care for those groups of women who currently use antenatal services the least.
Scholl Fund Grant
A Dr William M Scholl Podiatric Research and Development Fund award, worth £155,253 over three years, has been made to Dr Stewart Morrison (principal investigator), Dr Wendy Drechsler, Dr Mary Cramp, and Dr Jill Ferrari from the Human Motor Performance Research Group (HMPG).
The title of the project is: ‘Does excessive body mass alter the dynamic function of young, male children’s feet?’
Scholl funding also covered funding for a PhD student, Ryan Mahaffey, who is working on a project entitled ‘Does body mass alter the dynamic function of children’s feet?’
Strategic Health Authority for London - Consultancy
Jacqui Potter will be acting as Director for a project to develop a Placement Management Agency for Allied Health Professions. This is funded by the Strategic Health Authority for London (NHS London), which has provided £2.3 Million over 4 years to develop and implement an administrative system and service to manage practice placements for all Allied Health Profession students commissioned by NHS London.
This innovative collaborative project is designed to provide shared services to ten Universities – Brunel University; Canterbury Christchurch University; The City University; Kings College London; Kingston University and St George’s University London; London South Bank University; Oxford Brookes University; University College London; University of East London and University of Hertfordshire. The Allied Health Professions involved comprise Occupational Therapy; Operating Department Practice; Physiotherapy; Podiatry; Diagnostic Radiography; Therapeutic Radiography; and Speech and Language Therapy.
Some Universities in England have developed systems to manage placements for a number of professions but this is the first time that a number of Universities have collaborated to establish a shared service. Practice based learning is a key component to all allied health profession programmes and the service is designed to improve efficiency and effectiveness of placement management for the Universities and the placement providers which contribute to student learning.
University of East London has been appointed the lead University for the project with Jacqui Potter from the School of Health, Sport and Bioscience acting as director for the project.
