Abby Sabey, Senior Lecturer at the University of the West of England (UWE) and Senior Teaching Fellow for the National Institute for Health Research Collaboration for Leadership in Applied Health Research and Care West (NIHR CLAHRC West), talks about her work, and how the West of England AHSN helps her to join the dots.
My work centres on teaching and training health and social care professionals in research and evidence-based practice. Working with AHSN allowed me to access key audiences, such as the Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs), which really benefit from having access to the latest research and thinking in this area. By working with the AHSN, an organisation the commissioners already knew and trusted, the CLAHRC was able build productive relationships with commissioners.
From the work we did together, it became clear offering our training electronically would be very useful, both within our region and beyond. We developed an online training package together and also, when it became clear there was wider need, we created a train the trainer package, which we delivered to colleagues from CLAHRCs and AHSNs from across the country.
Through the AHSN I’ve also worked with GP Clinical Evidence Fellows for the past three years. We have been able to support their knowledge base as they developed into champions for evidence within the CCGs.
Working with the AHSN has helped me and my colleagues to share and spread our research and expertise so it can have the greatest positive impact, by being put into practice at the heart of clinical care and commissioning. It has been great to work with an organisation that shares our drive to use sound evidence to improve services.
This story is a highlight from our 2017/18 annual review: joining the dots to healthcare innovation. Check out the full review here.
Posted on July 20, 2018 by Abby Sabey, Senior Lecturer at UWE and Senior Teaching Fellow for NIHR CLAHRC West
