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Get Involved We value all the help and support we get from our public contributors. ​ Your input is important to us and helps us to design better research, address the health and care issues that matter in our communities and provide valuable support to our research teams. ​ You can get involved with as little or as much as you would like either as a member of the public, a patient or carer for someone, or maybe you are supported in social care (sometimes called being a service user) The NHS, Universities and Councils often use jargon and short-hand as a way of describing things. Having people with different experience can help break down barriers in language. ​ Working with us you will have all the support and encouragement you need in what can sometimes feel like an unfamiliar environment. We also cover costs of your time in many cases so that you are able to take part. If you would like to know more please get in touch with us at PublicInvolvement@uhs.nhs.uk or call us on 023 8120 4989. ​ Or you can fill out the form below to let us know what particular things you're interested in. Introduction Frequently asked questions NHS Dorset Integrated Care System (ICS) Hampshire and Isle of Wight Integrated Care System (ICS) NHS Trusts Dorset County Hospital NHS Foundation Trust Dorset HealthCare University NHS Foundation Trust Hampshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust Isle of Wight NHS Trust Portsmouth Hospitals University NHS Trust University Hospitals Dorset NHS Foundation Trust Salisbury NHS Foundation Trust Solent NHS Trust Southern Health NHS Foundation Trust University Hospital Southampton NHS Foundation Trust Universities Bournemouth University University of Portsmouth University of Southampton University of Winchester Research partners Health Innovation Wessex (formerly Wessex Academic Health Sciences Network) Frequently askd questions Our commitments and strategy Our new Public and Patient Involvement and Engagement team is​ growing and adapting to the needs of our community. As a result we are in the process of updating and redesigning our strat egy and summary documents listed below. Our commitments still stand as listed: ​ We will use a variety of ways to seek the views and insights of patients and the public, and work to ensure that the diversity of people giving their views reflects the diversity of the local population. We will provide information that is clear, jargon free and accessible. We will ensure people are adequately supported in their involvement role. We will make sure there are no financial implications for people’s involvement. We will involve people in a way that is open, honest and meaningful, being clear about what decisions they can and cannot influence. We will act on the views we have sought, and feedback to those who gave them on what we did, working in partnership with patients and the public to improve the quality and relevance of our research. ​ Public and Patient Involvement and Engage ment (PPI/E) strategy Download PPI/E Strategy 2021-2024 summary report Download PPI/E Strategy 2021 - 2024 full report PPI resources Public and Patient Involvement resources Learn more about Public and Patient Involvement Learn more about Public and Patient Invo... Play Video Play Video 00:51 Public and patient support in research Hazel and Phillip have just been taking part in the research design workshop looking at how people manage with a long term illness

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ADOPTED: SORT-IT (Salisbury Operational Research Track – Improving Together) SORT-IT is an exciting programme of collaborative research exploring how operational research can drive improvements in peri-operative management at a time of significant challenges for the NHS. These include limited resources, increasing demand and workforce fatigue, and urgently require us to think creatively and collaboratively. The wider SORT-IT programme is a joint endeavour led equally by Professor Christine Currie (CC: UoS) and Dr Alexandra Hogan (AH) BA(Hons), PhD, MBBS, FRCA, Consultant Anaesthetist at SHFT / Academic affiliation – UCL Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health. It is a novel programme of collaborative research with potential for clinical implementation under the SHFT strategic aim of ‘Improving Together’. In this proposal, working with SHFT, we are seeking funding for a seed project to develop the understanding and documentation needed to apply for external funding for the wider programme (target - NIHR RfPB). We will investigate two specific steps along the peri-operative pathway. 1. ‘Booking’ of a patient (processing of the patient’s referral for surgery and setting the course of their perioperative care). 2. Recovery (optimising patient preparation for their step-down from Theatres). SHFT serves approximately 270,000 people, of whom 12,500 underwent elective surgical procedures in 2019/20. Similar to many Trusts post-pandemic, only 70.2% of patients met the referral-to-treatment waiting time target of 18-weeks. The NHS is challenged by rising waiting lists, a trajectory established pre-pandemic (2012-2019) that is now accelerating. Consequently, the Government’s target of 92% of patients achieving ≤ 18-weeks to starting consultant-led treatment has not been met since 2016 (NHS Key Statistics, July 2023).

ADOPTED: Young people’s barriers to mental health services Lead: Dr. Corine Driessens , Professor Peter W F Smith Team: Fiona Lacey, YoungMinds Start date: October 2022 Ends date: September 2024 Background For the past 2 decades, the prevalence of emotional mental health disorders, such as anxiety and mood disorders, has been growing among English children and adolescents. It is estimated that on any day 16% of young people in English society experience emotional mental health problems and the majority of young people have experienced some period with mental health problems by age 14. About 50% of the young people with mental health problems continue to experience these problems from age 14 into young adulthood and about 75% of the adults with mental health problems report their onset of these problems before age 24. These figures are still an underestimation of the growing public health crisis as estimation methodology was biased. There is proof that people experiencing mental health problems are more reluctant to participate in epidemiological surveys. For instance, it was found that attrition and sporadic non-response to the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC) survey was dependent on presence of emotional mental health problems. The methodology used to estimate mental health parameters from existing cohort study data should therefore take this missing data dependent on mental health status (nonignorable missing data, Missing-Not-At-Random – MNAR data) into account. In the proposed study we will apply MNAR methodology to a currently active discussion on the need to expand mental health services to young people with mental health problems currently not receiving mental health services. On the one hand is the concern for medicalization of mental health problems that are experienced in the scope of normal development. The health care providers are concerned that young people will be disempowered if their sense of resilience is diminished (Foulkes, 2021). On the other hand, is the concern that there are serious inequalities in accessing mental health care services and service access needs to be facilitated for these underserved subpopulations. Currently 1 in 4 of the children and young people experiencing mental health problems receive mental health care services. Barriers to mental health service access has been explored among those currently receiving or trying to access mental health services. However, there is a lack of knowledge what happens to those young people not seeking mental health services. Reflections on Young People involvement with shaping analysis framework for mental health .docx Download DOCX • 2.37MB

PIVOT: Promoting Increased physical actiVity in hospitalised Older adults with Trained volunteers NIHR Advanced Fellowship Award: Dr Stephen Lim, Consultant Geriatrician University Hospital Southampton NHS Foundation Trust and NIHR Clinical Lecturer in Geriatric Medicine University of Southampton Team : Dr Samantha Meredith Research Fellow, University of Southampton, Dr Beth Stuart Clinical Trials Unit statistician, University of Southampton Aim(s) of the research To determine whether hospital volunteers can be trained to engage older people in hospital to be more active. We want to know if this intervention will work in different hospitals and explore factors that will support or prevent it from being delivered successfully. Background to the research Between 30 and 60% of older people in hospital are at risk of losing muscle strength and function, known as deconditioning. This reduces their ability to look after themselves independently. Low physical activity level contributes to deconditioning but dedicated physical activity sessions can benefit older inpatients. In most studies, physical activity is led by paid staff. New ideas are needed to ensure additional physical activity sessions are costeffective and sustainable. The Southampton Mobility Volunteer study showed that trained volunteers can safely engage older inpatients to be more active. However, more information is needed on how to make this approach accessible to more people in more hospitals. Design and methods used Hospital inpatients aged 65 years and older will be invited to participate in the study. We will conduct the study in four hospitals. The hospitals will be different in size and from a wider region to include a range of population groups from different settings and context. This is so that different social groups are represented, and the research will be more representative of the wider population. We will use one hospital as a ‘control site’ – where patients will not get volunteer input – to compare our findings against. Volunteers will encourage participants who can walk independently to walk twice daily. Patients who need help with walking will do bedside exercises. They will be encouraged to walk once they can do so independently. We want to know whether trained volunteer delivered exercise sessions are feasible and acceptable to hospitals. We will determine this by collecting data on volunteer recruitment and training, patient recruitment and the walking/ exercises intervention. We will interview patients, staff, and volunteers as the intervention is delivered to establish what worked well and what could be improved. Other outcomes will include physical abilities, muscle strength, length of stay and readmission rates. We will analyse how much money it costs the NHS to deliver the intervention. Patient/service user, carer and public involvement The James Lind Alliance Priority Setting Partnership has highlighted promoting of independence, and physical and emotional well-being as 2 of the top 3 key research priorities for older adults. More specifically, our PPI research with 92 older people showed that 45% of them had experience with hospital volunteers and all spoke highly of their contribution. Most respondents thought volunteers could be trained to help with mobility. My feasibility study (SoMoVe study) confirmed the volunteer-led intervention was acceptable to patients, volunteers, and staff in one hospital. Patients were grateful that the volunteers encouraged them to be more active. Staff members valued the work of the volunteers. This proposal was developed with the support of 2 public researchers, the volunteer services manager and a hospital therapy lead. The study protocol and study documents will be developed with PPI collaboration. 2 public researchers will be invited to join the study steering group. PPI input will be paid at INVOLVE rates. Dissemination Findings from this study will be shared through conferences, academic papers/reports, and media/social media. In collaboration with the Academic Health Science Network, we will share our findings with commissioners, providers of care and voluntary organisations. Study findings will be of interest to voluntary services, healthcare professionals, and directorate managers. A collection of resources will be produced to encourage the adoption of this intervention in other settings.

GOODNIGHT Covid-19 to care-home-based vulnerable individuals Co-Chief investigators Dr Thomas Daniels, Consultant Respiratory Physician, Honorary Senior Clinical Lecturer, University of Southampton Dr Ryan Buchanan, Academic Clinical Lecturer, Primary Care, Population Science and Medical Education, University of Southampton Partners: University Hospital Southampton NHS Foundation Trust, Southampton CTU & NIHR ARC Wessex Co-applicants Professor Julie Parkes, Professor of Public Health, University of Southampton Professor Helen Roberts, Professor of Medicine for Older People, University of Southampton Emeritus Professor Jeremy Wyatt – University of Southampton Dr Beth Stuart – Medical Statistician, Southampton Clinical Trials Unit Dr Kinda Ibrahim - Senior Research Fellow, Faculty of Medicine, University Hospital Southampton NHS Foundation Trust Dr Andrew Cook – Public Health Consultant, Fellow of Health Technology Assessment, University of Southampton Novel corona virus (COVID-19) is a virus that is spreading quickly around the world. Elderly people with other health problems have a high death rate from the infection. There are no treatments for COVID-19 so prevention of infection is very important . COVID-19 is thought to infect people via the nose and mouth. Current best practise to prevent infection focuses on good hand hygiene, the wearing of masks and by limiting social contact. However, elderly people in care homes have to come into contact with staff members who are looking after them. If you would like to know more about this study please contact Dr Ryan Buchanan

Wessex DIET: Determining the Impact of covid-19 on food sEcurity in young families and Testing interventions Joint Lead: Professor Nisreen Alwan and Dr Dianna Smith . Co Applicants : Nida Ziauddeen , Tim Lloyd, Dr Marta Disegna , Ravita Taheem, Sally Shillaker, Fran Richards, Duncan House, Sara Crawford. Partners: Southampton City Council, University of Southampton, Bournemouth University, Solent NHS Trust. starts: 1 November 2021 Ends: 31 March 2024 Publications: Household food insecurity risk indices for English neighbourhoods: Measures to support local policy decisions News: New map shows regions in the UK with a higher risk of food insecurity Lay Summary Aim of the research : We will explore the impact of system shocks on food security, diet quality and health in young families across Wessex, using the covid-19 pandemic and lockdowns as an example of such shocks. We will find out if Council-supported food aid initiatives to counter difficulties around adequate and healthy diet are acceptable, well taken-up and impactful in local populations. This will lead to a toolkit that can be used by Councils to decide which initiatives are best for their populations. Background: The covid-19 pandemic restrictions are likely to have negatively impacted UK families in many ways, including food insecurity (not having enough food because of cost or other barriers, or not having good quality food). Food insecurity has negative health impacts in the short-term including weight gain, malnutrition, poor mental health; these may lead to longer term health outcomes including obesity, diabetes, anxiety, and depression. Local Councils in Wessex have a range of initiatives to help this situation, including food pantries, where eligible families can purchase a range of items at a greatly reduced price, and recipe boxes. Design and methods During this 2-year project we will: Use statistical modelling to explore the effect of the covid-19 pandemic on important aspects of health and wellbeing in Wessex’s families with children under age 12, including their diet quality, food availability, weight status and mental health. Interview families to explore how they coped with the changing social and economic circumstances during the pandemic particularly in relation to their food quality and purchasing behaviours, Work with the local Councils in Southampton and Dorset to evaluate the initiatives to improve diet in disadvantaged families including food pantries. Public Patient Involvement: We involved public contributors in the design of this research through three meetings with 12 contributors overall. We have a public contributor as a co-applicant. Our PPI activities will ensure the interventions reflect the individual needs of young families in the target groups, and that the outreach activities to support the interventions are properly communicated. We already have ongoing public engagement activities involving Sure Start within our existing ARC project which we will continue to utilise. We have and willcontinue to actively involve people on the frontline of food aid systems in shaping this research. Dissemination: We will produce an implementation toolkit for Councils to aid decision-making on food-aid initiatives. Non-academic outputs will be specific to the audience and will include videos, presentations, social media posts and flyers. For public health/councils, short reports on the findings in the form of policy briefs will add to academic content and presentations. We will follow successful models like the oral health posters to Family Hubs delivered by Solent Health.

Mental Health, Workforce and Well-being Research Framework - ARC Collaboration More details on ARC Greater Manchester website What are we trying to do? The purpose of the document is to propose a pan National Insititue of Health Research (NIHR) Applied Research Collaboration (ARC) workforce focused mental health and well-being research framework. The aim is for the research framework to serve as a reference point to: Create coherence and comparability across the research carried out by NIHR ARCs Reduce duplication of work to reduce workforce burden. Adopting a coherent approach with an agreed purpose and broad aims will maximise the potential for cross-ARC collaboration, synergy and impact. While the focus of this research has a COVID-19 focus, the ambition is that this framework should facilitate research beyond the current pandemic, ensuring programme sustainability and longevity across the lifetime of this 5-year NIHR ARC funding cycle. This framework is not intended to be prescriptive, rather, it is a call to colleagues doing research under the NIHR ARC umbrella to use the framework as a point of reference in the development of research projects and programmes. It is a modular approach which allows flexibility to fit the scientific questions and data collection to the needs of the specific workforce and context being studied. Why is it important? The NIHR has invested £135 million to support 15 collaboratives covering every region within England. The NIHR ARC collaborative provides a framework within which key stakeholders are brought together locally and nationally with a mandate to tackle difficult issues facing our health and care system including: patient outcomes, effectiveness of our health and care system, system sustainability, and carrying out research with an applied focus to facilitate the rapid translation of research into practice. Moreover, the designation of ARC South London and ARC East of England as national leads for mental health and the establishment of a National Mental Health Priorities Network provides a further opportunity for effective collaboration. The NIHR ARC network presents a unique opportunity to develop a coherent and consistent approach to workforce mental health and well-being research which embodies these principles. What will we do? The framework is available for any NIHR ARC to review and align with, to guide the development of work that aligns to the fundamental principles of the NIHR ARC programme. Who are we working with? The NIHR ARCs and their research themes are set out in a table included in the document. In line with the framework, colleagues are encouraged to work collaboratively to maximise synergy, impact, and reduce duplication and burden. The origins of this framework arose out of conversation with colleagues from across NIHR ARC sites between April 2020-June 2020. The framework has been developed by: Kirsten Windfuhr (ARC Greater Manchester), Jane Ball (ARC Wessex), Karina Lovell (ARC Greater Manchester) Penny Bee (ARC Greater Manchester). Additional contributions and comments were gratefully received from ARC colleagues, and in particular Kristy Sanderson (ARC East of England). More information For further information about this work, please contact Alison Littlewood (Programme Manager). (ARC GM) ​Download - Mental Health, Workforce and Well-being Research Framework

ADOPTED: A Study to Evaluate the Introduction of new Staffing Models in Intensive Care: a Realist evaluation (SEISMIC-R) Prinicipal Investigator: Professor Natalie Pattison, University Of Hertfordshire Team: Professor Peter Griffiths, Dr Chiara Dall'Ora, Dr Christina Saville, Dr Lisa Whiting, Dr Melanie Handley, Dr Susie Pearce, Dr Marion Penn, Dr Paul Mouncey, Professor Thomas Monks, Mrs Clare Leon-Villapalos, Professor Suzanne Bench, Professor Ruth Endacott, Mr Jeremy Dearling, Mrs Jennifer Gordon. University of Southampton, University of Hertforshire, University of Plymouth, Intensive Care National Audit & Research Centre, University of Exeter, Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust, Guys & St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust/London South Bank University, NIHR Clinical Research Network. Start Date: 01 May 2023 End Date: 31 August 2024 Background Staffing in intensive care units (ICU) has been in the spotlight since the pandemic. Having enough nurses to deliver safe, quality care in ICU is important. There is national guidance, re-issued in April 2021, on how many nurses should care for ICU patients. However, what the skill mix should be (how many should be qualified nurses or have an ICU qualification) is unclear. Very little research has been done to look at which nursing staff combinations and mix of skills works best in ICU to support patients (described as ‘staffing models’). Across ICUs in UK, various ratios of qualified and unqualified nursing staff are being tried (staff ratios refer to the number of nurses caring for a set number of patients). Hospitals vary; some use a high proportion of non-registered nurses and others a low proportion of ICU qualified nurses. Research shows that there is a link between the quality of nurse staffing and poor patient outcomes, including deaths. Aim : Our research plans to look at different staffing models across the UK. We aim to examine new staffing models in ICU across six very different Trusts. We will use a research technique called Realist Evaluation that examines what works best in different situations and helps us to understand why some things work for some people and not others. The design of this approach will help us to better understand the use of different staff ratios across different ICU settings. We will examine what combinations of staff numbers and skills result in better patient care and improved survival rates. Our aim is to produce a template that every ICU unit can use. To do this, we will compare staffing levels with how well patients recover, and seek to understand the decisions behind staffing combinations.

< Back Rebecca Band Research Fellow Ageing & Dementia Becky is a Senior Research Fellow at the University of Southampton. She is a psychologist and expert in the role of interpersonal processes in health, and her research focuses on how the relationships in people’s lives are important for wellbeing, health management and health outcomes. She also has expertise in behaviour change and the development and optimisation of complex interventions. Becky is currently the Principal Investigator on the NIHR funded PALS project – a community based research trial exploring whether a social network intervention can help connect people who feel lonely and isolated to people and activities within their network and local community. She is also currently a co-applicant on the Research for Public Benefit funded HI-COVE project exploring the impact of long-covid black and minority ethnic groups in the UK. Previous Next

PARTNERS Project: Development and implementation of a digital tool for multisectoralsupport and management of long-term condition PARTNERS Project: Development and implementation of a digital tool for multisectoralsupport and management of long-term condition Principal Investigator: Professor Mari-Carmen Portillo Co Applicants : Line Bragstad, Dr Dorit Kunkel, Dr Kat Bradbury, Dr Lindsay Welch, Hayden Kirk, Dr Caroline Barker, Sandra Bartolomeu Pires, Christopher Edwards, Lindsay Cherry, Francesca White, Caroline Aylott, Cathal Doyle. Partners: University of Southampton, University of Oslo, Solent NHS Trust, University Hospital Southampton NHS Foundation Trust, Hampshire and Isle of Wight ICS, Versus Arthritis, and Parkinson’s UK. Lay Summary Background to the research : Self-management is an approach to help people with long term conditions manage their health daily. Existing NHS self-management tools focus on healthcare (medication management, appointments) and fail to capture aspects of how people live with and adjust to long-term conditions. This includes social support (family/friends) and other resources and networks available like the voluntary sector, industry and community groups.We have created an intervention (an action to improve a situation or prevent it getting worse) to support self-management for people with Parkinson’s Disease and their family/carers. This intervention recognises the role of social support, voluntary sector, industry, and community groups in adjusting to living with a condition. Our next step is toadapt this intervention to the needs of people living with other conditions like Arthritis and for those living with more than one condition and create a digital tool. Aim of the research : To develop, implement and evaluate a digital tool that supports the management of people with Parkinson’s Disease and/or Arthritis. The tool will support professionals and other organisations to connect, share resources and optimise communication and referrals, leading to more personalised and cost-effective use of resources (beyond healthcare) in the community. Design and methods: The research will take place in community settings in Wessex. We will prioritise disadvantaged groups (those less comfortable using technology and less able toaccess available resources and support). We will : 1. Work with our patient and public involvement (PPI) representatives, relevant voluntary organisations, health and social care providers, and key people involved in policy making and NHS strategy. They will have a voice ineach decision to ensure our tool is relevant and acceptable to those using it. 2. Host discussion groups with people with Parkinson’s Disease and/or Arthritis and theirfamily/carers to understand the positive and negative aspects of existing digital tools, from a patient perspective. 3. Design our self-management tool. 4. Test the tool through two primary care surgeries (GP) and voluntary organisations (Parkinson’s UK and Versus Arthritis).Testing will help understand how the tool is used and what helps or hinders its success. Deliverables : The research will generate: a digital tool to support more effective self-management of Parkinson’s Disease and/or Arthritis, recommendations for policy development, evidence for how to improve NHS services. Public Patient Involvement: We willwork with people with Parkinson’s Disease and/or Arthritis and their families/carers. We will work together as equal partners to define their level of involvement, roles, methods to input and training needs. We will also explore what works best or what we should do differently intheir involvement. Dissemination : We will share our learning across the different groups involved. This will include presentations, policy briefings, newsletters, and public events.

< Back Skaiste Linceviciute Research Fellow Long Term Conditions Skaiste Linceviciute is a recently appointed Research Fellow in the ARC Wessex Mental Health Hub at the University of Southampton and will be contributing to new research opportunities and collaborations. Skaiste Linceviciute has a BSc (Hons) in Psychology and a PhD in Health Sciences and Social Work at the University of Portsmouth. Skaiste’s PhD is about the experiences of older adults with a long-standing and a late onset asthma. Using different methods and approaches she was successful in researching people’s narratives that explored the meaning of living with asthma for older persons. Prior to joining the ARC Wessex Mental Health Hub, Skaiste worked on a number of projects supporting different stages of research at the University of Portsmouth and the University of Westminster. Beyond academia, Skaiste has also worked in other education institutions offering pastoral and academic support to young people. Previous Next