Creating a culture of research being core business

The continuing journey towards research being core business in the Trust has been built upon in 23/24, supporting staff to explore their own research journeys, while shining a spotlight on members of staff who are integral to the Research and Development (R&D) Department. 

Susan Guthrie has been appointed Principal Speech and Language Therapist and has recently taken on the role of Research Clinical Lead in the R&D Department. The department has supported 5 research projects through the Pump Priming scheme to a value of £21, 912. These ranged from using Minecraft® to support Autistic children, investigating the impact of early vs late autism diagnosis to monitoring injectable anti-psychotics.

Research Heroes

Research Heroes has been a key demonstration of how important staff are to the research carried out in the Trust. Staff who have gone above and beyond for advocating for service user involvement in research, assisting with study set up and delivery and behind the scene activity required for the department to deliver the best research are showcased on the Trust website.

Mental Health Nurses Hybrid Placement (MESH)

Two services involved have opened up an additional student placement due to involvement from R&D (believing it adds quality to the student’s placement they were not sure they could meet previously). By offering this opportunity to students, we are developing the skilled workforce of the future and also empowering the existing workforce to embrace the opportunity to introduce and embed research into their services.