Research

A Senior Research Fellow in Health Economics at Northumbria University evaluated the return on investment (ROI) for some of the key programmes run by Healthworks. The University was able to show that as well as realising improvements associated with specific conditions, these programmes showed cost savings and benefits in both a healthcare and societal perspective. Our programmes have delayed the onset of diabetes cases, led to fewer inpatient admissions thus freeing up hospital beds, reduced the burden on GPs, A&E departments and ambulance services, reduced falls, weight loss and reduced anxiety and loneliness and improved mental wellbeing. These programmes have played a real role in helping to relieve pressure on NHS services by improving people’s health.

Healthworks is a core partner of Newcastle Health Innovation Partners. 

NHIP is one of eight Academic Health Science Centres in the UK and brings together world-class research, education and clinical practice for the benefits of the region. NHIP aims to become the most integrated and innovative Academic Health Science Partnership in the world, working with innovators to discover, develop and deliver new solutions in healthcare, improving population health in North East and North Cumbria. You can find out more about NHIP here.

We have secured funding from NIHR Applied Research Collaboration and we’re delivering the interventions involved in ‘Multimodal tele-health behavioural intervention in patients with peripheral arterial disease from low socio-economic areas: a feasibility and pilot randomized controlled trial with embedded process evaluation.

Proud to support the Health and Life Sciences Pledge

Healthworks are signed up to the Health and Life Sciences Pledge, which is led by the Academic Health Science Network for the North East and North Cumbria (AHSN NENC), brings together the regional health and life sciences ecosystem to: collectively address challenges within the sector; gain recognition for our exemplary infrastructure and assets nationally and internationally; identify opportunities and attract investment to the region; and celebrate our collective success in the health and social care innovation arena.

Research projects

• AAA which is a research project in collaboration with Northumbria University and NHS Newcastle trust, it’s a 12-week virtual exercise and behaviour intervention for patients with low grade Abdominal Aortic Aneurysms. The study is designed to assess the feasibility of a home-based multimodal telehealth invention and improve the health and well-being of patients with AAA.

• TEXT-PAD which is a research project in collaboration with Northumbria University and NHS Newcastle trust, it’s a 12-week virtual exercise and behaviour intervention for patients with Peripheral Arterial Disease (PAT). The study is designed to assess the feasibility of a home-based multimodal telehealth invention and improve the health and well-being of patients with PAD.

• We have also delivered Pre-operative uncontrolled diabetes reversal before elective and major surgery, Pre-Op DREAMS, with fantastic outcomes. This work has recently won an Innovation Award supported by the Academic Science Network.

• Exploring the impact of long covid on wellbeing, health and employment/education prospects of adults living in the North East of England

Healthworks, NHSA and Newcastle University are working together on a research project focusing on the impact of long covid on wellbeing, health and employment/education prospects across the region. This involves people who have experienced long covid speaking to the research team. It is hoped that this project will help us to understand the broader implications of long covid for our region, and help us to form recommendations about how employers can best support their staff. Researchers from Newcastle University have attended long covid clinics to chat to attendees about the project and ask if they’d like to take part in an interview. For any questions, please contact the researchers directly on [email protected] or [email protected].”

• Healthworks has recently supported a long Covid research project ACCEPT- Accessible Community COVID-19 Education and Physical Therapy with Ioannis Vogiatzis Ph.D. FERS, Professor of Rehabilitation Sciences at Northumbria University.

• Addressing the crisis in child mental health: primary prevention through social prescribing as the missing link

Mental health disorders in children are increasing and most at-risk are those living in social deprivation. This Newcastle University study with Zoneworks explores the feasibility of Social Prescribing for children, utilising cross-sector collaboration within an at-risk community.

• EXpanding into communities to imProve lifestyle sUpport foR womEn after breast cancer (PURE-EX)

Funded by Breast Cancer Now, Healthworks, Newcastle University and the NHS will be working together over the next 3 years to co-develop and test of the feasibility of a programme to improve diet and physical activity support in breast cancer care.

How you can help us shape research!

Healthworks is working with Newcastle Health Innovation Partners to widen the variety of voices informing research at all different stages of the research cycle (see diagram below).

This will include:

• Working with under-served populations and community groups
• Focused work with individual groups
• Collaboration between community groups and researchers at different stages of the research cycle
• Gathering views on local health issues and getting involved in research to inform future work.

Figure 1: Research cycle from National Institute for Health Research – Briefing notes for researchers – public involvement in NHS, health and social care research, November 2022. Each of these points represents an area of the research cycle which benefits from public involvement.

Research+ Me

Research underpins a lot of medicines and health advice that we all use day to day. However, the results of research and clinical trials often don’t represent our local populations.

We are working with our partners across the NHS and Universities work to better understand how we can better engage and involve different communities.

We’d like to encourage you to consider signing up to Research+ Me to learn more about what local clinical trials are going on in Newcastle.

You can find out more and sign up by following this link https://redcap.link/rpm-healthworks

Anyone aged 18 or over can register to be involved. Some trials are for healthy volunteers and others are for people with specific medical conditions. Currently they are now looking for volunteers:

• Type 2 diabetes
• Irritable bowel syndrome
• Heart disease
• Asthma
• Obesity
• Depression and bipolar disorder
• Healthy volunteers

Remember your support could potential save lives and health outcomes for thousands of people!

We’d love to hear your views on the following:

– In the local area, what helps you live a healthy life?

– What makes it hard to live a healthy life?

– If you wanted to know more about taking part in research, what information and support would you need?

– Are there places in the community that could be useful for getting this information on research?

– What do you think good working between the public and researchers looks like?

If you would like to share your views, or have any other comments, contact Ellie by email [email protected], call and leave a message on 0191 272 4244 or send a letter to The Health Resource Centre, Adelaide Terrace, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE4 8BE.

Staying Steady falls prevention programme research:

Emily James, Northumbria University, completed a review of the Staying Steady falls prevention programme which was published in the BMC Public Health Journal.  A summary of her findings is included below.

You can find out more about Staying Steady here.

If you are interested in discussing how we can support your research please contact us on: [email protected]