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Implementation Our dedicated focus on implementation planning has enhanced the uptake and impact of ARC projects. Through a joint leadership role with Health Innovation Wessex, and close working with our partners, including Wessex Health Partners, our ICSs, health and care providers and our higher education partners, researchers have been supported to foster connections and networking critical to implementation success. Stakeholders (such as clinicians and commissioners) have been engaged early in the research cycle to understand the factors that will support the adoption of research. Our implementation team provided an implementation advice, co-developed implementation plans and advised on grant applications. An implementation checklist was developed to assist researchers in planning for implementation at the outset of their projects Other resources | NIHR ARC Wessex. Our partnership with Health Innovation Wessex has benefitted understanding of how to optimise the impact of ARC innovations and research findings , and has led to several joint programmes of work including research in optimising the use of medicines , the Wessex NHS Insights Prioritisation Programme (NIPP) , a review of the evidence for community based falls prevention , and development of a Workforce Evaluation Toolkit. Our medicines optimisation programme was founded on a deep understanding of system priorities, resulting in research questions that addressed system priorities and successful implementation of the findings and new resources. Our evaluations of digital remote monitoring for people with frailty in Wessex, and our joint evidence review of community based falls prevention in England with ARC South West Peninsula, provided insights into the implementation of innovation in practice and have been widely disseminated. Our policy brief on falls prevention , published in 2025, describes lessons for implementation from several ARC implementation studies of falls prevention programmes to benefit commissioners, providers and the public. Ageing, dementia & frailty priority | NIHR ARC Wessex . And in response to an expressed need from our system partners for help with evaluating change in the workplace, we produced an evaluation framework and toolkit to guide what to evaluate, how to ask evaluation questions and ways to measure change (In development). In October 2024, we launched our knowledge mobilisation programme and recruited a team of four knowledge mobilisation fellows, enabling us to develop expertise in this area and amplify awareness of the importance of knowledge mobilisation for research impact.

d6ac5aeb-4d91-4adb-8844-1811307fb89b SOCIAL CARE: Building Bridges: Elevating Research Culture in Social Care through Collaboration, Qualitative Insight and Relationship-Driven Impact Principal Investigator: Dr David Raper (University of Winchester) Team: Rachel Harrison & Deborah MaCartney (University of Winchester) Start Date: 1 October 2022 End Date: 30 September 2024 Background Adult social care is currently dealing with a range of challenges with staff resources being stretched. Research, as an activity is difficult to maintain and embed in this context, but acknowledged to be fundamental in improving practice and finding new and creative ways to overcome challenges. In order to support an increase in social care research capacity, universities and social care agencies can engage collaboratively to explore strategies and processes that aim build capacity and space for research activity. This move to co-production will enable learning partnerships to be established, and opportunities for knowledge exchange enhanced. The outcome will be to engage, collaborate and find the means for professional development for social care professionals in research. Alongside this greater understanding of research cultures and contexts for local authorities and adult social care providers will help to develop future partnerships and opportunities for research initiatives. Aim(s) of the programmes of activity To develop contacts and communication routes between university and local authority, to help facilitate research and evaluation relationships. To provide support for research processes and the development of the role of research as an important part of the social care sector. To provide support and mentoring for a range of projects across local authorities and independent sector. To create new platforms for research training for social care practitioners, and growing confidence and experience in this area. Developing an understanding of research cultures with social care and local authority contexts. What we discovered To create a research culture for social care we found that…. •Collaboration takes time, effort, patience, resources, flexibility, compatible personalities and commitment to the project •There must be a shared clear commitment that social care has value •There must be a shared clear commitment that qualitative research has value •Research and impacts must be defined and understood as a joint endeavour •Enhancing research culture in social care is a shared, respectful journey leading to new insights What we are doing with this Knowledge? We are developing an innovative change management model to guide UK organisations in making person-centred transformations successfully, even amidst significant financial constraints The Local Authority are going to use our research to inform their current and future practice in meeting the needs of people who need physical care in their homes and people with learning disabilities We developed training courses to empower social care workers across the UK to conduct their own research We are writing international research articles with Local Authority staff We are holding public events to celebrate this social care research We are setting up a supportive research network for social care staff Where Next? There is a critical lack of research and research culture within social care sectors. We all need to work to create an environment where research in social care becomes a standard practice, shaping the future of service delivery. We will continue to champion the need and value of social care and social care research by extending our research activities, expanding our research short courses, supporting research networks, strengthening our partnerships with Local Authorities through joint funding bids and disseminating our findings more widely. We will continue to evaluate how our collaborative approach to research impacts social care outcomes. You can find a video detailing our findings here: Social care | NIHR ARC Wessex

65894af6-1d61-4f27-8b10-ff3b90451d8b Safer Nursing Care Tool and nurse staffing requirements What did we learn We found that for some wards using the Safer Nursing Care Tool (SNCT) gives a good estimate of the number of nursing staff needed. However, for other wards, relying on the estimate provided by this tool without further thought could lead to unsafe staffing levels for different reasons. For example, the current guidance recommends setting staffing levels to meet the average requirement, but following this logic, 18 wards in the three Trusts would often have been short-staffed. Also, a quarter of wards needed a sample of over 182 days to estimate the number of staff needed precisely, when the current recommendation is 20 days. Nursing workforce leaders at the three Trusts suggested characteristics of wards where the tool performed least well, for instance, high patient throughput and differences in workload between mornings and evenings. What difference can this new knowledge make? This project and the previous related project (NIHR-funded study https://doi.org/10.3310/hsdr08160 ) led to a direct collaboration with NHS England and NHS Improvement and an invitation to work with them to further develop and update the guidance on using the Safer Nursing Care Tool. The team have spoken about the research findings and implications at a series of NHS Improvement safe staffing fellows training events. They have co-developed a set of resources to help nurses plan staffing. Impact has been achieved through this research shaping revised guidelines published by NHS England and NHS Improvement on using the SNCT in combination with professional judgement to determine nurse staffing requirements. We were invited to help facilitate workshops to co-develop a template for nurses to record their professional judgements. We are also in early-stage discussions with hospital managers in Greece about how the professional judgement framework might be relevant there, as well as discussions about how to achieve wider reach through the World Health Organization website. Why is this important? The professional judgement framework we developed as a result of these projects will benefit nurses, who use this tool nationally, by giving them concrete guidance on issues to consider when deciding staffing levels. It will benefit patients admitted to inpatient wards, through better matching of staffing levels to demand. Having too few nursing staff is related to adverse effects for patients (more deaths, more falls, longer stays in hospital), staff (turnover, sickness) and organisations (higher costs from temporary staff to fill gaps). Diagram 1 We presented the list of wards which were flagged as having overall poor fit to three nursing workforce leaders Some of the common factors they suggested as potential reasons for poor fit are shown here above. They highlighted wards with large morning-evening differences in staffing requirements (based on acuity-dependency ratings) may be among those where the tool fits least well. For wards that are particularly small or large, it is possible that the number generated by the SNCT is less likely to be sufficient to maintain minimum registered nurse levels when rostering staff to shifts. They highlighted some ward characteristics that mean the SNCT multipliers, as they are applied, may underestimate the true workload. These were high patient turnover, older patient population, cancer infusion/device activity. a high proportion of patients requiring one-to-one care AKA enhanced care/specialling. The factors suggested are on the whole congruent with published evidence What next? Our next step is conducting research predicting demand for nursing staff which we plan will also lead to tools and resources to guide decision-making around staffing. Research team: • Professor Peter Griffiths, Chair of Health Services, University of Southampton • Rosemary Chable, Deputy Director of Nursing, Education & Workforce, University Hospital Southampton NHS Foundation Trust • Nicky Sinden, Head of Nursing Workforce, Portsmouth Hospitals NHS Trust • Tracy Moran, Lead Nurse for Nursing Workforce, Education & Practice, Poole Hospital NHS Trust Project partners: • University of Southampton • University Hospital Southampton NHS Foundation Trust • Portsmouth Hospitals NHS Trust • Poole Hospital NHS Trust More information Evi dence Brief Publication 24_11_Professional_Judgement_Staffing_Eprints[16] .pdf Download PDF • 186KB Publications: Saville, Christina and Griffiths, Peter (2021) Ward staffing guided by a patient classification system: A multi-criteria analysis of “fit” in three acute hospitals. Journal of Nursing Management, 29 (7), 2260-2269. ( doi:10.1111/jonm.13341 ). Saville C, Griffiths P, Casey A, Chable R, Chapman H, Radford M, and Watts N (2023) Professional Judgement Framework, doi: 10.5258/SOTON/P1102 University of Southampton ( https://doi.org/10.5258/SOTON/P1102 ) Saville, Christina and Griffiths, Peter , Ejebu, Ourega-Zoé and Fogg, Carole (eds.) (2023) Introducing the Professional Judgement Framework to guide nurse staffing decisions (Evidence Brief, 24) 2pp. http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/484412 Saville, Christina and Griffiths, Peter , Ejebu, Ourega-Zoé and Fogg, Carole (eds.) (2024) Nurse staffing decisions: the Professional Judgement Framework. Nursing Times, 120 (7). https://www.nursingtimes.net/c...4-06-2024/ The Safer Nursing Care Tool as a guide to nurse staffing requirements on hospital wards: observational and modelling study ( nihr.ac.uk ) Video: Computer simulation what and why? https://sho.co/1E34T The importance of professional judgement in nurse staffing decisions https://southampton.cloud.panopto.eu/Panopto/Pages/Viewer.aspx?id=87fcb9bb-e9dc-4b43-8377-acb700e3bec2 Here is the orginal research outline Identifying wards for which the Safer Nursing Care Tool is appropriate for assessing nurse staffing requirements Principal Investigator: Dr Christina Saville Team members: Dr Christina Saville (Research Fellow, University of Southampton) Professor Peter Griffiths (Chair of Health Services Research, School of Health Sciences, University of Southampton), Rosemary Chable RN (Deputy Director of Nursing, Education & Workforce, University Hospital Southampton NHS Foundation Trust) Ms Nicky Sinden (Head of Nursing Workforce at Portsmouth Hospitals NHS Trust), Tracy Moran (Lead Nurse for Nursing Workforce, Education & Practice, Poole Hospital NHS Foundation Trust) Start: 1 December 2019 End: 1 August 2020 Partners: University of Southampton, Portsmouth Hospitals NHS Trust, Poole Hospital NHS Foundation Trust Lay summary It is important to have enough qualified (registered) nurses looking after patients staying on hospital wards, because having too few is associated with worse patient care and more patient deaths. On the other hand, there are extreme shortages of nurses, so having “too many” on a ward could be considered a waste. The Safer Nursing Care Tool is used in many hospital wards in England to work out the number of nursing staff (including nursing assistants) needed. However, a recent study showed that it is more suitable on some wards than on others. For example, we found that factors not accounted for in the tool, e.g. whether a ward is surgical or medical, and the proportion of single rooms, also affected professional judgement of whether staffing was adequate. Aim This study aims to understand which ward characteristics mean that the Safer Nursing Care Tool gives a good estimate of the nursing staff required, and which ward characteristics mean that the number might need to be adjusted or further considered by taking into account the expertise of ward leaders. It also aims, if possible, to provide some general rules or an add-on tool to help nursing managers with setting staffing levels. Methods We will analyse the data that were collected for a previous study in a different way. This time we will focus on differences between wards rather than hospitals. We will use analytical techniques for finding patterns in data to identify similar wards. In our team we have experienced leaders in nursing who will provide expert professional insights into ward characteristics. Patient, public and community involvement and sharing results We will involve nursing managers in the study because they are the potential users of any rules or tools we develop. We plan to develop a resource (rules or a tool) for nursing ward managers and to run a workshop to test use of this resource. We plan to write one academic paper about what we find out. We also can share the plans for this with lay members from the PPI group as appropriate. We are developing a smaller user group across Workforce and Frailty and Older People teams.

056e2237-0346-49fe-b123-4999c149156a Comparative Effectiveness of Methylphenidate vs. Second‑ and Third‑Line Medications for Children with Attention- Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder and Autism Chief Investigator: Professor Samuele Cortese, NIHR Research Professor, University of Southampton Co-Investigator: Miguel Garcia Argibay, Senior Research Fellow, University of Southampton Team: Laura Nisbet, Mental Health Nurse, lead neurodevelopmental pathway, Hampshire and Isle of Wight Foundation NHS Trust Partners : Hampshire and Isle of Wight Foundation NHS Trust, University of Southampton Start: 1 10 2024 End: 31 3 2026 Aims of the study: This study wants to find out which medications work best for children who have both Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and autism. We are especially interested in learning whether the most commonly used medication for ADHD (called methylphenidate) works well for children who have both ADHD and autism, or if a different medication would be better. Background: Many children with ADHD also have autism. Right now, doctors usually treat ADHD with methylphenidate, but the studies that recommended this medicine didn't include children who have both ADHD and autism. So, we need to see if this medication works as well for children with both conditions. How We Will Do the Study: We are going to look at existing information (data) from the UK and abroad (Sweden), about thousands of children who have both ADHD and autism. We will compare different groups of children: Those who started with methylphenidate (the usual ADHD medicine). Those who started with other types of medication. Those who switched between different medications. Those who did not take any medication. We'll check how often these children needed to go to the hospital or emergency room, if they had any injuries, or if they had issues with self-harm. This will help us figure out which medicines work better and are safer. We will also use special techniques to make sure the comparison between the groups is fair and considers any other factors that might affect the results. Patient, public and community involvement : We believe this study will help doctors treat children with both ADHD and autism better. That’s why we’ll work closely with people who have lived experience of these conditions, both locally and internationally. Locally, we will involve people with lived experience from the Solent Academy of Research and Improvement team and Southampton Primary Care Research Centre. Nationally, we will work with representatives of the ADHD Foundation- Neurodiversity charity, the largest association people with lived experience of ADHD and autism in the UK. Internationally, we’ll partner with representatives of ADHD Europe, which is the largest European group for people with neurodiverse conditions like ADHD and autism. Professor Cortese has ongoing collaborations with all these partners. These people will help us at every stage of the research: designing the study, choosing what results to focus on, and sharing the findings with others. Sharing the Results: Once the study is finished, we will share the results with doctors and healthcare providers to help them make better decisions for treating children with both ADHD and autism. This may lead to changes in treatment guidelines and improve care for these kids. The findings will be published in medical journals, presented at conferences, and shared on public websites and in publications, especially those aimed at families of children with ADHD and autism.

5fde61a4-c4bf-4d47-8ae3-3eed94045497 ADOPTED PROJECT: Evaluating the Operation Encompass Scheme: A Qualitative Scoping Study Principal Investigator: Dr Sara Morgan Project Team: Dr Maddy Greville Harris (Bournemouth University) Start Date: 1st August 2019 End Date: 21st December 2020 Background For young people, experience of domestic violence or abuse (DVA) is associated with an increased likelihood of experiencing mental health problems, poor academic attainment and later criminal or violent behaviour. The importance of early identification and support for children experiencing DVA is therefore paramount. One safeguarding scheme that is implemented in the UK is Operation Encompass (OE). This scheme involves partnership working between police and schools, to ensure that school safeguarding leads are informed of incidents of DVA involving children from their schools by the start of the next school day. Whilst the OE scheme has been implemented nationally, there is no existing published research exploring implementation of the scheme. What we did This qualitative scoping study carried out semi-structured interviews with 13 police workers and 12 school designated safeguarding leads. Thematic analysis explored three main themes: 1) Information sharing: “the beauty of Encompass is that it’s a conversation” , describing, for example, how OE is invaluable, although seen by some as resource-intensive 2) Facilitators and barriers of the OE scheme , such as staff responsiveness, funding, and resources 3) School support and outcomes: “Now they knew about it, they could go on to help” , such as the usefulness of identifying DVA cases, providing family and wellbeing support. While the OE scheme was considered invaluable in identifying and supporting children following OE, further research into the scheme could assist in a better understanding of how to optimise support for children in schools following a notification of an incidence of DVA. What did we find out? We identified three key themes from our interviews with educators and police involved in delivering Operation Encompass (OE). These were 1. Parameters of the scheme: defining DVA; stages to police implementation; extent and scope of information sharing; expanding and tailoring the scheme. 2. Barriers and facilitators: sustainability; attitudes towards the scheme; compliance and engagement; providing useful, timely contact; systemic promotion, and funding and resources. 3. Outcomes of OE and school support making allowances; check-in and monitoring; providing a safe nurture space; family work, and prioritising wellbeing. There was overwhelming support for the OE scheme from police workers and school safeguarding leads, although several potential challenges to implementation were discussed. The parameters of the OE scheme across regions were discussed, with debate around the content of OE notifications, and how best this should be shared. Although making contact with schools was sometimes challenging, schools agreed that timely information sharing via the OE scheme was useful for providing support to children and their families. Schools discussed the types of support they offered following and OE notification, such as checking in with the child and/or family, and providing a nurture space. Several key recommendations were made, such as the potential usefulness of sharing best practice between schools and the importance of promotion and awareness of the OE scheme. What did we do with this new knowledge? • Findings from the evaluation have been cited in a recent impact report from Operation Encompass, which goes out to all areas in England and Wales delivering OE OE-impact-Report-2023.pdf • The findings on the OE scheme have implications on best practice across police, education, social care settings. • The work was presented through the Association for Children and Adolescent Mental Health Supporting children and families experiencing domestic violence: A Devon and Cornwall perspective - Recording - ACAMH • The work was also used to inform a further grant application on children experiencing domestic abuse and led to a funded UKRI ESRC-funded PhD project by Miss Rebecca Harris | University of Southampton What next? Through my work evaluating violence prevention programmes, and how to support those experiencing domestic abuse, including this evaluation of OE, I’m looking to pursue further research work that understands how to prevent the intergenerational cycle of domestic abuse and how to prevent victims being revictimized or becoming perpetrators as adults. This will involve work with the community in non NHS settings, including partnerships with the police, education, social care and the healthcare system.

7c1c5828-e040-4058-a214-a3f1d860532c CLECC Toolkit and background: Creating Learning Environments for Compassionate Care (CLECC) CLECC is a training and development programme that has been tested and measured over several years in different care environments. It is designed to help improve the wellbeing of health and care staff and make a difference to patient care. It’s easier for you to care for patients when you feel well cared for yourself An important part of feeling well cared for is working in a team that supports you, where members care about how you are and want to help you It’s hard to provide good care to patients when you feel stressed, isolated and unsupported CLECC aims to provide the conditions in which every team member feels able to be compassionate with each other and with patients We have developed and tested CLECC in real-life health and care settings to see how practical it is to use and to understand its impact in different settings. Our results to date indicate its promise for supporting staff learning and wellbeing, and the delivery of compassionate care. Professor Jackie Bridges Professor Jackie Bridges, a nurse by background and now Professor of Older People’s Care at University of Southampton in the UK, has led this work for over a decade. She has worked closely with experts from different fields, particularly in nursing practice, to develop the CLECC programme and the accompanying research. This page contains a facilitator guide and accompanying resources to help health and care teams learn about CLECC and use it in a practical real-world setting. CLECC is constantly being improved and revised with feedback from nursing, care staff and managers so please get in contact with any feedback. You can fill out the form below or contact us direct. Contact us Email arcwessex@soton.ac.uk Or via our Twitter page Let’s start with the basics What is CLECC and what evidence do we have that it works? Our two videos below can answer those questions https://vimeo.com/786850064 https://vimeo.com/786850368 Guides – How do we do that? I want to use CLECC A guide for facilitators – 101834 A4 Brochure - CLECC Facilitator Manual AMENDS - Jackie Bridges - FINAL .pdf Download PDF • 1.14MB I want to show CLECC to a team and get them thinking about how to use it Slideshow to accompany facilitator guide – download PDF here (32 pages) CLECC Whole Team Introductory Learning Activities slideset .pdf Download PDF • 13.63MB I want to tailor how I use CLECC based on understanding people’s experiences at work Download the questionnaires below: Workplace Learning Questionnaire – for use by teams to identify team learning climate strengths and issues Team CLECC Workplace Learning questionnaire for care settings .pdf Download PDF • 108KB Climate for Care Questionnaire – for teams to evaluate team working climate CLECC Team Climate for Care questionnaire .pdf Download PDF • 107KB Please take time to tell us why you are using CLECC

9381b390-9efb-4b71-9879-2371689f041c ADOPTED PROJECT: EnablExercise in Crohns: A qualitativE study to uNderstAnd the Barriers and faciLitators to physical activity and Exercise IN children and adolescents with CROHN’S disease ADOPTED PROJECT: EnablExercise in Crohns: A qualitativE study to uNderstAnd the Barriers and faciLitators to physical activity and Exercise IN children and adolescents with CROHN’S disease Principal Investigator: Dr Zoe Saynor Co Applicants : Dr Nadeem Afzal , Dr Christopher Roberts , Professor Kelly Mackintosh , Dr Danielle Lambrick , Professor James Faulkner , Mr William Freer (PPI Contributor) Partners: University of Portsmouth, University Hospital Southampton NHS Foundation Trust, Swansea University, University of Winchester, For Crohns (charity), Guts UK (Charity) Duration : 12 Months Background: We know that people with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), of which one of the main forms is Crohns, are at a high-risk of not meeting the physical activity recommendations for health, due to a combination of bowel and general physical symptoms (e.g. abdominal pain, diarrhoea and fatigue). Additionally, there are currently no physical activity and exercise guidelines for young people with IBD – making it difficult to advise what people should be doing. Researchers within our team have been monitoring the effects of COVID-19 and associated lockdowns on physical activity and mental health on a global scale, and saw negative impacts in both people with long-term conditions and in the wider population. However, there is currently no data to tell us how young people with e.g. Crohns have been impacted during this time. in our centre, we are seeing an increasing number of people with Crohns transitioning from paediatric to adult care with metabolic syndrome and we anticipate this will rise in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Objectives: Assess the barriers to, and facilitators of, physical activity and exercise participation in young people with Crohns disease. Additionally, comparing their views to their parents/guardians and clinicians. Design and Methods: The proposed research will be a qualitative cross-sectional study consisting of individual semi-structured interviews with the three participant groups (in clinic for young people; videoconference for parents/guardians and clinicians). The interview schedule will be co-developed with people living with Crohns. Information from the interview will be digitally recorded, transcribed verbatim and thematically analysed. For the young people with Crohns involved in the study, we are interested in documenting their disease activity and nutritional/growth status at the time of interview so will use the Paediatric Crohns Disease Activity Index (PCDAI) to determine remission, mild activity, or moderate-to-severe activity and growth ‘weight height and BMI’ Z-scores for this. Clinical and Scientific Impact: Physical activity is important for both mental and physical health and is particularly important in people with a long-term condition. This work will provide important understanding of the views and experiences of young people with Crohns, their parents/guardians and clinicians surrounding physical activity and exercise. The findings from this qualitative study will provide insight as to why young people with Crohns may not undertake physical activity and exercise and will help inform the design and delivery of future appropriate physical activity and exercise programmes for this population. This information would complement our ongoing research (The ACTIVE-IBD Study), and will inform future funding applications to develop, evaluate and implement educational and interventional resources to increase the physical activity and exercise undertaken by young people living with Crohns. This funding award will help expedite our journey to the end goal of improving this provision and, ultimately, the quality of lives of people with Crohns

0962122f-1175-4112-bec9-7327da6e0e5a Work lives and Wellbeing of Mental Health Nursing Workforce Lead applicant: Prof Jane Ball Co-applicants: Dr Gemma Simons, Prof David Baldwin, Prof Peter Griffiths, Dr Catherine Smith, Dr Emma Wadey Project Summary: Read a long project summary Read a short project summary We have a growing demand for mental health care and nurses are key to meting this demand. Each year roughly 10,000 NHS staff in England leave mental health services. 22% of nursing posts in mental health are vacant. Across the NHS it is recognised that work pressures impact on staff wellbeing, their ability to deliver care well, and likelihood of staff staying in the NHS. Despite being a priority area, most research related to nurses’ work engagement, retention and positive staff outcomes focuses on staff in general acute hospitals. Very little attention has been paid to mental health nurses’ work lives and wellbeing. Where will the research take place and who will it in involve This study focusses on mental health nurses. It will take place in Wessex but also includes desk research to collate workforce data, and a national survey of nurses in a range of mental health settings (community, hospitals, specialist units). The project will be led by the mental health workforce team at Southampton, in collaboration with the Hampshire & Isle of Wight Staff Support Hub, and the national lead for mental health nursing. An advisory group and patient public group will support the research. Aim & Design The aim is to examine the work lives and wellbeing of mental health nurses, in order to improve wellbeing and retention of these staff. This study will map what is known about the mental health nursing workforce, identify modifiable workplace factors that impact on staff experience, wellbeing and outcomes, and work collaboratively to identify solutions. The companion project will identify metrics that we can use to assess the wellbeing of the mental health workforce. Methods Labour market and workforce review - analyse data on the mental health nursing workforce, to create an overview. Survey nurses working in mental health (in Wessex NHS Trusts and a national sample). The questionnaire includes measures of: burnout, job satisfaction, intention to leave, workloads and practice environment. We will include open-ended questions so staff can give their views of work-life challenges, how they impact on their health, and what helps. The RCN Mental Health Forum will be main gateway for the national survey. Interview and focus groups with mental health nurses in Wessex NHS Trusts to explore experiences and views of working in mental health and issues related to wellbeing. These will be both before and after the survey (to help with survey design, and afterwards, to enrich interpretation). Coproduction workshop . Preliminary findings will be shared with a wide range of people with vested interest in, or responsibility for, the mental health workforce (e.g. nurses, managers, workforce leads) at a Wessex based co-production workshop, to identify actions and next steps. How will the findings inform improvements in population health and patient care? Services will run better and care quality will be improved if the workforce is healthy, happy and there are enough staff to provide care to the expected standards. Publications doi:10.12968/bjmh.2023.0037

8f830c4b-12f3-482a-9f50-095a9cd14973 ADOPTED: Gambling in the UK: An analysis of data from individuals seeking treatment at the NHS Southern Gambling Service Principal Investigator: Professor Sam Chamberlain, Professor of Psychiatry at University of Soutampton & Honorary Consultant Psychiatrist at Southern Health NHS Foundation Trust. Co-investigators: Professor David Baldwin, University of Southampton, Professor Jon Grant , University of Chicago, Dr Konstantinos Ioannidis, Southern Health NHS Foundation Trust, Dr Mat King, Southern Health NHS Foundation Trust. Partners : University of Southampton & Southern Health NHS Foundation Trust Summary Gambling disorder is a growing problem amongst adult gamblers. Although previous research has identified some of the harms associated with gambling, few studies have documented how these harms in a large, UK clinical sample. Moreover, It is critical to investigate the socioeconomic determinants of gambling disorder via geospatial analyses, bringing together clinical and socio-economic parameters, to identify areas of need and inform the strategic development of the regional service as well as influence policy making more widely. Furthermore, little is known regarding the evolution of factors that predict treatment success dropout or relapse and how individual vulnerabilities interact with environmental risk. This research aims to fill this gap, by analysing a large existing dataset of treatment seeking gamblers. The service has a purpose to provide clinical excellence, while adopting innovative methods (digital pre-assessment, digital monitoring, virtual individual and group therapies etc.) in the clinical setting and to spearhead cutting-edge research which will inform and enhance clinical practice locally, nationally, and globally. The long-term goal of the service is to establish a world-renowned centre that minimises gambling harms through comprehensive evidence-based treatments, research, outreach, and prevention (including early interventions). The clinical focus of the Southern Gambling Service (SGS) is on minimising gambling harms, which involves treating disordered gambling using evidence-based approaches, as well as providing support aimed to promote or replenish recovery capital in individuals (e.g. detecting comorbidities and signposting individuals to other sources of support, enhance social connectedness, promote liaison with sources of financial, social and wellbeing support, setting out the scaffolding of follow up arrangements).

a0531f94-b063-4041-908b-5830a10b5f66 ADOPTED: Community pharmacy alcohol-related liver disease risk identification and linkage to care through development of a complex intervention (CIP-LINC) Prinicpal Investigator: Dr Alexander Smith Start Date: 16 February 2023 End Date: 31 March 2025 Background Liver scarring (known as cirrhosis) is a frequent and ever more common reason for dying in the United Kingdom (UK). The most common cause of liver scarring in the UK is alcohol. Death from liver scarring can be prevented if liver disease is found at an early stage. This can be hard because many people with liver scarring do not look or feel unwell until they develop liver failure. At this stage it is too late to prevent complications. Alcohol-related liver disease can be found earlier by assessing for it in people who drink too much alcohol. This is advised in national guidelines. Local pharmacists are one of the most accessible health professionals. There are over 12000 local pharmacies in England. Lots of these pharmacies are in areas where more people have alcohol problems. Local pharmacists are able to identify people who drink too much alcohol and provide them support to drink less. However, it is not known if local pharmacists can get these people assessed for alcohol-related liver disease. This study looks at how this could be done with the aim of creating a Toolkit to make it happen.

663cd08e-9825-45c9-8e1b-c94d485206ee SOCIAL CARE: Building capacity in social care through co-produced research and a research learning partnership between University of Portsmouth and Portsmouth City Council Background Social care is facing many challenges and, in a time where staff are stretched and resources are low, research can feel like a luxury rather than part of daily activities. Yet research is crucial for improving practice and finding innovative ways to overcome challenges. To increase capacity in social care research, academia and social care need to work together to understand each other and co-produce a programme that will fit with the workplace demands of social care and focuses on issues that hold meaning and value to those we are seeking to engage. The work that we co-produce will therefore lead to tangible practice change and/or a strengthening of the evidence for existing practice. The University of Portsmouth (UoP) and Portsmouth City Council (PCC) do not currently have a research learning partnership established, however our civic partnership agreement provides a strong impetus to build a learning partnership that will inspire, engage, and provide professional development for social care professionals in research, whilst providing academics with direct experience of co-producing research in complex public service contexts. Through this project we aim to develop such a research learning partnership. Contributors: Amy Drahota, Reader in Health & Social Care Evidence & Evaluation, University of Portsmouth Carole Fogg, Senior Research Fellow, University of Southampton Patricia Gilbert, Lecturer (Sociology), University of Portsmouth Patryk Jadzinski, Senior Lecturer (Paramedics), University of Portsmouth Gail Mann, Research Development Lead, Portsmouth City Council Nils Niederstrasser, Senior Lecturer (Psychology), University of Portsmouth Lucy Porteous, Senior Lecturer (Social Work), University of Portsmouth Clare Rachwal, Deputy Head of Service, Adult Social Care, Portsmouth City Council Jenny Roddis, Associate Head (Research & Innovation), University of Portsmouth Sharon Smith, Principal Social Worker, Adult Social Care, Portsmouth City Council Annabel Tremlett, Senior Lecturer (Social Work), University of Portsmouth Aims and Objectives Our overall aim is to build research capacity in social care through establishing a research learning partnership between the University of Portsmouth (UoP) and Portsmouth City Council (PCC) adult social care team, the public and other key partners, and develop co-produced research relevant to PCC social care practice and national issues. We will achieve this via the following four objectives: A. To establish a research learning partnership for social care between UoP and PCC which will provide learning opportunities for both partners and their associated stakeholders around the development, design, and delivery of research. B. To identify and prioritise research topics for development for further grant funding opportunities, within social care and also in collaboration with other health and care delivery partners. C. To undertake preliminary research activities (e.g. a systematic review, public involvement activities, and potential data gathering) on a prioritised topic in adult social care, which will underpin a funding application for further primary research. D. To develop guidance on increasing capacity in social care research via co-production in collaboration with wider ARC Wessex social care research partnerships. Research Plan / Methods We will begin this project with a three-month exploratory process with social care teams, that will be about relationship-building and working together to devise a programme of activities that will meet the needs of social care, establish what a learning partnership would look like, and how this will fit with the expertise of academics. We envisage that we will co-develop some activities that centre around relevant topic(s) of importance to social care, and that the academics can support based on their expertise. Our focus will be adult social care, to tie in with the School of Health & Care Professions’ thematic strength in older adults, PCC’s adult social care team, and the ‘ageing and dementia’ research area of ARC Wessex. The project will involve a researcher-in-residence, employed by UoP but embedded within PCC, to work alongside adult social workers and build a culture of joint research across the organisations. We will be seeking to integrate research into current processes, for example through senior social worker team meetings and practice support forums that would be happening anyway. Throughout the project we will be seeking to establish a legacy of ongoing work and practice, through the development of funding applications for future projects and the development of a community of practice that will outlive the duration of the funding, nurture an affinity for research, and help demonstrate the value of research to social care. Summary of findings This project had four strands: 1: Growing a research culture and working together We helped six people at Portsmouth City Council (PCC) to become research active or develop their research skills; four were awarded ‘Visiting Researcher’ status at the university, and two were social workers employed on the joint social work project as research assistants. Of the four visiting researchers: One social worker received mentorship to undertake their own small research project; One Mental Health Practitioner developed their research ideas, and applied for research funding; Two individuals independently completed a research project and were supported to develop their analysis and findings through collaboration with University researchers. All individuals are pursuing further research and supporting each other. 2: Joint social work project A research question was developed through discussions and shadowing within adult social work teams at PCC. This led to a review of the evidence on how and why different features of collaborative working may impact the outcomes of older adults receiving services. We found 28 relevant studies that helped develop three theories on collaborative working. The theories relate to: how multidisciplinary team meetings are managed; how staff can learn from each other and feel safe to speak out; how new solutions for older adults can arise when staff feel safe to speak out. These theories can be used to develop recommendations and new interventions to improve how social workers can work with other professionals to provide the best care for older adults. 3: Research learning programme A 6-part seminar series, Research Skills in Social Care , was delivered in-person for colleagues at PCC and online for wider audiences. The series gave an overview of the six stages of conducting a literature review to grow research knowledge and encourage discussions. Team members also gave seminars on their research projects through the Applied Research Collaboration Wessex online seminar series. 4: Reflecting on what we have learnt about growing research The process of growing research has been rewarding and challenging. Success has come from mentorship and individual relationships where trust and rapport are developed, and confidence is built at a steady pace. Arranging rooms and technology in a different organisation for the seminar series was difficult, however the in-person nature of the seminars was beneficial for sparking informal conversations and removing barriers between research and practice, presenting an “accessible” face. What we did with this Knowledge The knowledge from the joint research project is being shared with the wider adult social work team to inform team development. Additionally, we are working the Health Determinants Research Collaboration (HDRC) at Portsmouth City Council to establish how the activities to grow research can be expanded to other areas of the city council and local authorities wider afield. We are working together to develop a report for publication and continue to work with the adult social work team to grow research. Where next? • A funding application has been submitted by an Approved Mental Health Professional to conduct a literature review around racial disparities in coercive mental health treatment •A social worker is planning small research project evidencing the need for a larger autism/neurodivergence support service for adults •Further collaboration with Health Determinants Research Collaboration initiative •Discussing development of interventions based on the findings of the joint research project. This will form the basis of a future funding proposal. Koren Luddington – Visiting Researcher & Social Worker “I was matched with a mentor from the University, who was empathic and reassuring of my self-doubts. She made me feel as though all questions were valid and she was able to provide explanations that felt personalised and relevant to my field of work” Taken from Koren’s blog post on NIHR ARC Wessex Supporting capacity building in this project has been really eye opening - throughout this project I have met incredible, passionate people that are doing everything they can to provide support. There is such a wealth of knowledge and innovation happening in Adult Social Care, and it’s up to us in research to support and encourage that. Dr Leah Fullegar Leah.Fullegar@port.ac.uk

c011903f-4a36-460d-bf9c-db9cb8525bc0 Implementation and Evaluation of the Advanced Practice Research Toolkit Chief Investigator : Professor Kerry Gaskin, Birmingham City University Start Date: 1st October 2024 End Date: 31st March 2026 Summary Research is important for clinicians to improve treatments and care in the NHS. It is fundamental to what is called advanced practice. In 2023 the Advanced Practitioner Research Toolkit was developed for one NHS trust to help plan research activity. This novel toolkit, developed to meet the needs of advanced practitioners in one organisation, has gained interest nationally and internationally, with many positive comments received about how simple it is to use. We are currently designing a national evaluation to ascertain how the toolkit has been implemented and the impact it has had for advanced practitioners. It has the potential to improve research and engage more clinicians in research, leading to evidence based service improvement in the NHS. Anecdotally this pillar is perceived as being more difficult to achieve within the AP role due to a variety of barriers, including operational priorities, lack of time and lack of support. A common theme arising from communication with APs at GHNHSFT was ‘ not knowing how or where to get started’ , which informed development of the toolkit. The objectives of the APRT were to support APs to 'get started' with the research pillar; to encourage AP teams to consider their research priorities; to enable individual and team research objective setting and to aid appraisal discussions. The aim of this project is to improve Advanced Practitioners’ (AP) research capabilities, thereby enabling APs to achieve the research pillar of their role Objectives: · to develop a tailored strategy to implement the APRT · to test this implementation strategy in the context of healthcare organisations · to evaluate the acceptability, appropriateness and feasibility of the APRT · to evaluate the impact of using the APRT for APs, AP Teams, Supervisors and Line-Managers · to report the findings and recommendations to inform future roll out across the NHS Development and Implementation of An Advanced Practice Research Toolkit - Birmingham City University