Domestic violence and abuse is devastating and impacts the whole family, not just the person who is the focus of the abuse. But children can often be hidden victims or fail to get appropriate support. Research shows that only half of children affected by domestic violence and abuse are known to social services and only 42 per cent receive support from a specialist abuse service. The National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) in the South West is driving forward ground-breaking research to understand the experiences and needs of children affected by domestic violence and abuse and looking at innovative ways...

Pioneering work by Professor Martin James, a senior NHS clinician for stroke services in Exeter and a team of researchers at the University of Exeter Medical School, including PenCLAHRC’s operational research team, PenCHORD, has been incorporated in proposals to improve stroke care for patients in Northern Ireland.

Every year, there are almost 3,000 stroke-related hospital admissions in Northern Ireland and more than 1,000 people die from stroke. Stroke services in Northern Ireland, as with other parts of the UK, struggle to meet national standards in a number of areas.

NHS Guidelines in England recommend that when reconfiguring stroke services, patients should ideally...

A new rehabilitation programme, which helps heart failure patients achieve better quality of life from the comfort of their own homes will now be rolled out at four NHS centres across the UK.

Collaboration for Leadership in Applied Health Research and Care South West Peninsular
(PenCLAHRC) supported Research has found that the Rehabilitation Enablement in CHronic Heart Failure (REACH-HF) programme, developed by a collaboration led by the University of Exeter and the Royal Cornwall Hospitals NHS trust, significantly improved quality of life. Rehabilitation is also linked to better health outcomes for patients. Last month, a new study concluded that the Reach-HF programme is...

The health and wellbeing of parent carers is often overlooked. But now, with a funding boost of nearly £40,000 from the National Lottery Community Fund, a peer-led support programme for parents of disabled children in communities across the southwest is set to be further extended.

The Healthy Parent Carers programme for parent carers of disabled children (aged up to 25 years) provides information about small steps that can be taken every day to improve health and wellbeing using the acronym CLANGERS (Connect, Learn, be Active, Notice, Give, Eat well, Relax and Sleep). Parents are invited to take part in NHS-funded research, led by...

Despite the proven effectiveness of cardiac rehabilitation programmes in reducing readmissions and risk of death from heart disease, attendance varies widely across the UK and is generally poor. An NIHR-funded trial involving researchers from PenCLAHRC has found that home-based rehabilitation for people with heart failure improves quality of life at 12 months compared with usual care.

216 people with heart failure, predominantly men with an average age of 70, were recruited from primary and secondary care in the UK, for a home-based programme. The programme, facilitated by a trained cardiac nurse or physiotherapist and developed from health behaviour change theory, was co-developed...

PenCLAHRC’s Deputy Director, Professor Ken Stein, has been appointed as Programme Director for the NIHR Systematic Reviews (SR) Programme. The NIHR SR Programme manages the NIHR support for Cochrane activities in the UK and the NIHR support for the academic units on whose work all National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) appraisals are based.

Ken will take on the role from September 2018, succeeding Professor Tom Walley, who says:

“I am delighted that Ken has accepted this position. I am confident that under Ken's leadership the NIHR SR Programme will continue to fund and oversee vital high quality research that will continue to provide decision makers...

Learning to manage going to the toilet independently is an important milestone in child development. Being continent involves recognising that you need to go to the toilet, controlling until an appropriate place can be found, urinating and/or defecating, and cleaning up afterwards.

Children with special educational needs and disability may be slower to learn to manage going to the toilet, or need extra help, but many can become continent with the right support.  Clinicians often recommend ways to improve continence, including toilet training programmes, nappies and other products, aids and equipment, medicines and surgery. Children should be assessed carefully by clinicians...

A robust research analysis has identified what factors can be targeted to support people to live as well as possible with dementia.

The study, led by the University of Exeter and published in the journal Psychological Medicine, found that good relationships, social engagement, better everyday functioning, good physical and mental health, and high-quality care were all linked to better quality of life for people with dementia.

Professor Linda Clare, at the University of Exeter, said:

“This research supports the identification of national priorities for supporting people to live as well as possible with dementia. While many investigations focus on prevention and better treatments,...

A £1.8m study funded by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) is looking for hundreds of Plymouth smokers who don’t want to quit, but do want to reduce the number of cigarettes they smoke. Researchers from Plymouth University Peninsula Schools of Medicine and Dentistry (PUPSMD) will lead the study to test whether personal support can help.

Professor Adrian Taylor, Associate Dean for Research in PUPSMD, is leading the study across four cities – Plymouth, Nottingham, Oxford and London - which will hopefully provide a definitive answer to whether future services should be adapted to support those not ready to quit.

“We...

A team of researchers, including members of PenCLAHRC, have received  £240,880 of funding from the NIHR Health Technology Assessment programme (NIHR HTA) for a new project looking to understand the efficacy, cost-effectiveness and current use of cancer diagnostic tools to aid decision-making in primary care.

For many types of cancer, survival is lower in the UK than for most European countries. Diagnostic tools that can predict the risk of cancer in patients with symptoms have been developed and are available for GPs to use in clinical practice. However, there are no summaries of the evidence on whether using these tools improves...