Tag: research

Festschrift for Professor Chris Salisbury

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This week we celebrated the distinguished career of our esteemed colleague, Chris Salisbury, Professor of Primary Health Care at the Centre for Academic Primary Care (CAPC) and National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) Senior Investigator, who will be retiring at the end of the month.

L-R: Professor John Campbell, Professor Bruce Guthrie, Professor Chris Salisbury, Professor Helen Atherton and Professor Matthew Ridd

Attending the Festchrift – an event honouring the work of a respected academic during their lifetime – were colleagues past and present, with four talks delivered by senior peers: Professor Matthew Ridd (Bristol), Professor John Campbell (Exeter), Professor Helen Atherton (Southampton) and Professor Bruce Guthrie (Edinburgh).

Each talked about the groundbreaking research that they had worked on with Chris: patient-clinician relationships and consultations; access to primary health care; digital health care; and multimorbidity respectively.

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RAPID-Test trial completes recruitment early

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A major clinical trial investigating whether GP use of rapid diagnostic tests for respiratory (chest) infections can reduce same-day antibiotic prescribing in primary care has completed recruitment early.

Home testing for respiratory infection as mum puts swab into the nose of her son sitting on a kitchen desk.

The RAPID-TEST trial, led by Professor Alastair Hay at the Centre for Academic Primary Care, University of Bristol, originally aimed to complete recruitment of 514 patients by September 2024. With enormous interest in the trial from GP practices across the Bristol, Bath, Swindon, North/North East Somerset, South Gloucestershire, Gloucestershire and Wiltshire areas, the target was met five months early.

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Call for submissions to Turning the Tide exhibition

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As part of the programme for this year’s Society for Academic Primary Care Annual Scientific Meeting (SAPC ASM), which we are hosting in Bristol on 3-5 July, we are inviting submissions for an art exhibition on the theme of water and health. Successful submissions will be displayed at the conference and online. There will be prizes of £150 for outstanding entries. Anyone is welcome to make a submission, including delegates to the conference.

Tiled montage of images of sea, ocean, dolphins, sharks, whales, coast and people swimming and deep sea diving.

The exhibition is being organised by Dr Alan Kellas and Dr Catherine Lamont-Robinson from Bristol Medical School. Both Alan and Catherine lead a Year 3 medical student research project around ‘Blue Health’, which is the inspiration for the exhibition titled: ‘Turning the tide: water as medicine – exploring water’s role in sustaining health for our global and community futures: a multimedia enquiry and collaboration between arts and science, evidence and practice, medicine and ecology’.

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CHICO intervention helps GPs decide whether to prescribe antibiotics for children with respiratory infections

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Clinicians have found the ‘CHIldren with acute COugh’ (CHICO) intervention valuable in supporting decision-making around antibiotic prescribing and facilitating discussions with carers about concerns and treatment options, according to University of Bristol led research published in the British Journal of General Practice.

A young boy (18 months) with a nasty cough, coughing with his mouth open and tongue poking out

Childhood respiratory tract infections (RTIs) are common, often leading to unnecessary antibiotic use and contributing to antimicrobial resistance. The qualitative study aimed to explore how clinicians implemented the CHICO intervention, using interviews to understand its acceptability and use.

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New Centre for Applied Excellence in Skin and Allergy Research

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The University of Bristol is home to a new Centre for Applied Excellence in Skin and Allergy Research (CAESAR), which has been established to improve the diagnosis and treatment of common skin and allergy problems in primary care.

The CAESAR team.
CAESAR Team (from left): Dr Phuong Hua, Dr Andrew Turner, Dr Roxanne Parslow, Professor Matt Ridd, Dr Raquel Granell, Catriona Rutter.

Directed by Matthew Ridd, GP and Professor of Primary Health Care at the Centre for Academic Primary Care, it comprises a multi-disciplinary group of 20 people with a focus on childhood eczema and food allergy.

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Registration open for the Society for Academic Primary Care Annual Scientific Meeting 2024

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You can now register for this year’s Society for Academic Primary Care Annual Scientific Meeting (SAPC ASM) , which is being held at the University of Bristol on 3-5 July.

Registration open advert for the Society for Academic Primary Care Annual Scientific Meeting 2024. View of colourful houses from Bristol Harbour.

The conference will welcome over 300 delegates from across the country and beyond. The Society for Academic Primary Care (SAPC) is the leading organisation championing academic primary care in the UK. The theme for the conference is ‘Sustainable Primary Care: healthy systems, healthy people’.

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International acclaim for tobacco-themed drama inspired by University of Bristol research

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A four-part audio-drama, Tobias and Syd, launched earlier this year and inspired by University of Bristol and Durham University research, is currently ranked second in the Audio Fiction World Cup and is the top UK podcast.

Poster for Tobias and Syd, the play, with a colourful, artist-drawn image of a man and woman together surrounded by curls of smoke, alongside screen grab of Audio Fiction World Cup rankings, October 2023.

The drama, sub-titled ‘an alluring time travel romance’, tells the story of Tobias and Syd, how they meet, the role seduction plays in bringing them together, and how their relationship spirals, through a series of time-travel episodes, into smoke-filled darkness, exploitation and addiction.

Written and directed by multi-award nominated Elspeth Penny (Silva Lining’s Care Plan), and made by award-winning, Bristol-based 2BU Productions, the play gathers original research with a lot of surprising history and a cast of compelling characters.

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Research Paper of the Year Award for Bristol-led eczema study

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University of Bristol-led research comparing the effectiveness and safety of different types of moisturiser for childhood eczema has won the Royal College of General Practitioners (RCGP) Research Paper of the Year (RPY) Award 2022.

One hand dispensing cream onto the other hand.

The research was led by Matthew Ridd, a GP and Professor of Primary Care at the Centre for Academic Primary Care, University of Bristol, and the award was announced at the RCGP Conference in Glasgow today [19 October].

The National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR)-funded ‘Best Emollients for Eczema (BEE)’ clinical trial compared lotions, creams, gels and ointments used to treat childhood eczema. The trial found no difference in the effectiveness or safety between the four emollient (moisturiser) types, leading the authors to conclude that “the right moisturiser for children is the one that they like to use.”

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Experiences of support for domestic abuse in UK general practice during the COVID-19 pandemic

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The experiences of patients who sought help in general practice for domestic violence and abuse (DVA) during the COVID-19 pandemic have been revealed in a study by researchers at the Centre for Academic Primary Care, University of Bristol.

Mother holds small baby in one arm as she types on a laptop with her other hand.

The study, published in the British Journal of General Practice (BJGP), compared the views of 21 patients (women, men and children) with the views of 13 healthcare professionals (GPs, practice nurses and allied health professionals).

Overall, the study found that general practice played an important role in supporting patients affected by domestic abuse during the pandemic, although this was against a backdrop of concerns of rising numbers of DVA cases and falling referral of cases. Access to services was further hampered by the imposition of lockdown measures and a shift to remote care.

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Applications open for NIHR School for Primary Care Research post-doctoral fellowships

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The National Institute for Health Research School for Primary Care Research (NIHR SPCR) has launched its call for post-doctoral fellowships (previously known as launching fellowships) to start around April 2024.  

People chatting at a conference.

The maximum award is £160,000 to cover the applicant’s salary for up to 24 months (60-100% FTE), and some research and training costs. These awards are aimed at early career researchers normally within three years of their PhD (longer time post-PhD allowed for people who have taken a career break).

The SPCR would particularly welcome applications from Allied Health Professionals who want to conduct research relevant to primary care but the award is open to any early career primary care researcher.

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