Somerset Clinical School

Linking research with practice to improve patient outcomes across Somerset
Somerset Clinical School 2023

Our main objectives:

  • Deliver high-quality research which supports the needs of the population and workforce in the South West and beyond.
  • Develop the capacity and capability for research within the workforce to enable evidence-based practice and inform quality improvement activity.
  • Support the leaders of health and social care professionals to develop their research workforce.
  • Embed a clear clinical academic career path to assist the transition from undergraduate student to senior research leadership roles.
  • Influence regional, national, and international decision-making within this arena, resulting in demonstrable impact.

From a research point of view, it is fantastic to work clinically with colleagues. We have so many areas where we can make a difference and collaboratively work to improve the care of our patients and their families.

Jos LatourProfessor Jos Latour
Professor in Clinical Nursing

The Somerset Clinical School is a partnership between Somerset NHS Trust and the University of Plymouth.
It exists to promote evidence-based practice, to develop clinically focused non-medical research programmes that enhance patient care, and to grow and nurture clinical academic pathway opportunities and careers.
 

Research community

 

Local Clinical School activities

Somerset Clinical School newsletter

Chief Nurse Research Fellowship Programme

2024–25 Cohort
Ana-Marie Toth, Janine Andrews, Patience Elosiuba, Vicki Hands, Rebecca Glover, Anju Mathews.
2023–24 Cohort
Daniella Griffiths, Kate Olver, Dayananda Omkarappa, Naomi Stone.
2022–23 Cohort
Oluwafemi Alo, Alice Bevan, Cecilia Cole, Tessa Dean, Charlotte Fellows, Eleonora Forbes, Beth Hawken, Rebecca Kendall, Makhosi Ndebele, Philippa Quinn, Katie Ross.

Training opportunities

The 2025 Clinical School training calendar will be circulated via our distribution list and on LEAP.
Contact Clinical School to be added to our contacts list clinical.school@somersetft.nhs.uk.

JBI Systematic Review Training
2024 cohort
Veronica Price, Anna Tennant, Ana-Maria Toth, Jamie O'Neill, Rebbecca Russell, Stella Campbell, Evelyn Owusu-Mireku, Warren Goodland, Lewis Plece, Lanre Aladesuru.

Writer in residence

The Somerset Clinical School is delighted to be supporting a writer in residence, one day a week, funded by the Royal Literary Fund. This post offers all staff the opportunity to benefit from writing advice and support from a professional, published writer.
Current writer in residence, Caroline Sanderson, provides practical, friendly, and confidence-boosting support with all types of writing tasks, whether professional or academic and study-related.

Award and funding opportunities

Health and Humanities

This is a collective of Trust staff with a professional or personal interest in connecting arts-based methods or humanities studies with health and wellbeing activities.
During summer 2023, we held a series of events:
  1. Interview with ex-doctor turned screenwriter, Dan Sefton. Dan was a medic in the Musgrove Park Hospital Emergency Room for many years before establishing himself as a screenwriter. He met up with our writer in residence, Caroline Sanderson, to talk about how he got into writing, sharing some tips and tricks.
  2. We were also able to invite Adam Kaye for interview with Caroline. He shared experiences of being a doctor, his medical training, and how he incorporated these into his two books.
  3. We invited Trust staff to share their written work as part of our Holding Hope work. We captured their stories and poems.
    View the Holding Hope flyer.

Dan Sefton - Somerset Clinical School
In Conversation with Dan Sefton
Dan Sefton and Caroline Sanderson - Somerset Clinical School
Dan Sefton with interviewer Caroline Sanderson
Adam Kaye - Somerset Clinical School
Author and former doctor, Adam Kaye
 
 
 
 

Research successes

Awards
NIHR ICA programme
Jonathan Gill NIHR PCAF
Jo Buck, SW Internship
Sarah Fletcher, SW Internship
Rebbecca Russell, SW Internship
Anna Tennant, SW Internship
NIHR Exeter Biomedical Research Centre
Dr Lisa Durrant Pre-application Support Fund
PenARC
Kate Olver PenARC Knowledge Mobilisation Fellowship
Jonathan Gill Knowledge Mobilisation Fellowship

Publications

2024
Hammond, Ralph (2024) "Professional identities, culture and pillars," South West Clinical School Journal: Vol. 4: No. 4, Article 4. Editorial. DOI: https://doi.org/10.70156/2754-9461.1096
2023
Alo, O. (2023). 'Nursing people on stroke units whose first language is not English: a service evaluation', South West Clinical School Journal, 3 (4). https://pearl.plymouth.ac.uk/handle/10026.1/21864
Corby, M. and Hammond, R. (2023). 'A student allied health professional’s reflective account of a research delivery placement: changing attitudes', South West Clinical School Journal, 3 (4). https://pearl.plymouth.ac.uk/handle/10026.1/21865
Forbes, E. and Hawken, B. (2023). 'Management of neonatal jaundice readmissions within a district hospital: a service evaluation', South West Clinical School Journal, 3 (3). https://doi.org/10.24382/z8r9-c184
Goldsworthy S, Latour J & Palmer, S. et al. (2023). Patient and therapeutic radiographer experiences of comfort during the radiotherapy pathway: A qualitative study. Radiography. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.radi.2023.02.011
2022
Hammond, R, Stenner, R & Palmer, S. (2022). What matters most: a qualitative study of person-centered physiotherapy practice in community rehabilitation. 10.1080/09593985.2020.1825577

400 words

Buck, Jo and Singh, Vincent (2024) "Contracture prevention: knowledge, understanding, and skills of community occupational therapists and physiotherapists: a survey," South West Clinical School Journal: Vol. 4: No. 3, Article 3. DOI: https://doi.org/10.70156/2754-9461.1087.
Omkarappa, Dayananda Bittenahalli (2024) "Improving electronic health charting by nurses in the intensive care unit: an evidence informed change project," South West Clinical School Journal: Vol. 4: No. 3, Article 4.DOI: https://doi.org/10.70156/2754-9461.1088.
Hooper, Sharn (2024) "Mapping clinical skills’ inductions for allied health professions within an integrated care system: a service development project," South West Clinical School Journal: Vol. 4: No. 3, Article 5. DOI: https://doi.org/10.70156/2754-9461.1089.
 
 
 
 

Clinical School local news

Somerset CS Conference
On 15 October 2024, Somerset Clinical School hosted the 9th annual South West Clinical Schools conference in Taunton, sponsored by Chief Nurse, Hayley Peters. 63 delegates joined to celebrate clinical research activities from across the region.
Ruth Endacott, NIHR Director of Nursing & Midwifery gave the keynote presentation and Professor Yuxia Zhang; Chief Nursing Officer from Zhongshan Hospital and Fudan University, China spoke on leadership in a clinical academic setting.
Somerset Conference Winners
Winners of the Three Minute Thesis competition at the Somerset conference.
Olivia Byrne, Alice Bevan and Daniella Griffiths (left to right) won the Three Minute Thesis competition and are pictured here with the Chief Nurse of Somerset NHS Foundation Trust, Hayley Peters.
Professor Jos Latour

Contact the Clinical School Leads

Professor Jos Latour
Dr Ralph Hammond

The Somerset Clinical School leads tend to meet in The Academy, Musgrove Park Hospital, on a Tuesday. However, if you would like to arrange an online or in person meeting with us, please get in touch and we can set something up.

South West Clinical Schools

The South West Clinical Schools are a collaboration between the University of Plymouth and the NHS, working with nurses, midwives, and allied health professionals at all stages of their clinical and academic development.
Our work with local health services has identified the urgent need to capture improvements in patient and family outcomes, as well as ensure that existing evidence is used to best develop the research led by non-medical health professionals. To meet these needs, we have invested in clinical schools, which are professorial-led centres, in five of our local NHS trusts. The main focus for the clinical schools is to encourage health professionals to look at their practice, challenge current thinking, try out new ideas and work out ways to measure what they're doing.
Find out more about the South West Clinical Schools .
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