Research Hero of the Month – June 2024

This month, we would like to celebrate Navjeet Chhagira and all of her colleagues in the clozapine clinic.

The Research and Development Team runs a number of studies that aim to recruit service users with Serious Mental Illness to take part. These studies have different criteria but, very often, a large proportion of our service users who attend the clozapine clinic will be eligible to take part. The clozapine staff are always extremely welcoming and supportive of the team when we ask to attend the clinic to invite service users to take part, and their support in this makes a huge contribution to the success of these studies. The clinic staff appreciate the value of the work that we do and have mentioned our studies with enthusiasm to the service users as they introduce them to us so that we can discuss the study further with them. This has been invaluable, and we appreciate it greatly.

We’d like to thank Nav, in particular, for her contribution to DIAMONDS, a study assessing the clinical and cost-effectiveness of a self-management programme for people with type 2 diabetes and SMI. As a Higher Level Pharmacy Technician, Nav explained to us that diabetes medication is usually prescribed in primary care; however, Nav was aware of some service users who are prescribed diabetes medication from the trust and she was able to refer these people to us so that we could invite them to take part.

Nav has also supported some of our other studies in various capacity within her role, including the Digital Health Tools in Psychosis study.

The Research Team’s Consent to Contact initiative allows service users to opt out of being contacted about research opportunities by the team. We respect these decisions, but for specific studies like DIAMONDS, which targets people with both type 2 diabetes and SMI, we like to ensure they are made aware of the opportunity to consider participation. In these cases, it’s only appropriate for a clinical staff member to mention the study to them. Nav has discussed the DIAMONDS study with people who we would not otherwise have been able to talk to ourselves, some of whom have decided to take part in the study.

Nav has gone out of her way to help our team to deliver research studies countless times. Including the support she gave our team with the National Centre for Mental Health study(NCMH). We value her approach to teamwork and her dedication to facilitating opportunities for service users, beyond her usual remit. We think she’s a fantastic colleague and an asset to the trust.

Nav says:

“I enjoy supporting the research team. I am always looking for any opportunity to help everyone. We all work as a team and our main aim is to support the patient in any way. I think it is beneficial for them, I think you all are doing amazing work!!”

Page last updated: 8th Oct 2024 1:03pm