School for Primary Care Research

The NIHR School for Primary Care Research (SPCR) is a partnership between nine leading academic centres for primary care research in England. Partners include the Universities of Bristol, Cambridge, Keele, Manchester, Newcastle, Nottingham, Oxford, Southampton and UCL. The main aims of the School are to increase the evidence base for clinical practice and build academic capacity in primary care.

The School provides a setting where clinical and non-clinical trainees can benefit from the leadership of researchers at the top of their fields. In addition, the School organises supplementary training, networking, mentoring and guidance from member across the NIHR and the healthcare sector.

Projects

• A multicentre ethnographic study of unplanned hospital admission for heart failure
• An investigation of the Quality and Outcomes Framework (QOF) using the General Practice Research Database (GPRD)
• Computer based self-management programmes for adults with type 2 diabetes: a Cochrane Systematic Review
• Defining the prognostic value of the morning blood pressure surge in clinical practice
• Developing an educational intervention for junior doctors in their Foundation Year at FY1/FY2 level working with patients with medically unexplained symptoms (MUS)
• Development and initial evaluation of attentive eating intervention for weight management in primary care
• Do antipsychotic medications increase the risk of cardiovascular disease? Cohort study in the THIN database comparing different methods for exploring long term prescriptions in primary care
• Economic modelling of NIHR SPCR/RCGP prescribing safety indicators
• Embedding effective renal care: Understanding and improving the management of chronic kidney disease in primary care
• Frequent HbA1c titration study
• From Evidence to Practice: Addressing the Translation Gap for Complex Interventions in Primary Care
• How has the GP management of depression changed in the last 10 years? Exploring the effects of the QOF, the economic recession and NICE guidelines on rates of diagnosis, antidepressant prescribing and referrals
• Managing Distress in Prostate Cancer: a feasibility study into the design and evaluation of a novel psychological support intervention for managing distress in prostate cancer
• Managing Persistent Non-Specific Low Back Pain in Primary Care: Patients' and Primary Care Clinicians' Treatment Beliefs
• Mixed method review of case management for patients with chronic heart failure
• Pain as a moderator of treatment effect
• Predictors of Dementia in Primary Care: A cohort study using The Health Improvement Network (THIN) database
• Preparatory work for an application for a Phase IV trial using methods developed in the PINCER trial
• Primary care patients’ views and experiences of treatments for depression, and of those delivering their care: a secondary analysis of qualitative data
• Proactive Familial Breast Cancer Risk Assessment in Primary Care: Feasibility of an Optimised Intervention to Improve Identification and Care of Women at Risk (Phase 1)
• Rethinking specific disease labels: Response to primary care interventions across different pain syndromes – an individual patient data meta-analysis
• Safety of antidepressants in people aged less than 65: cohort study using a large primary care database
• Self-monitoring of blood pressure in pregnancy: developing the evidence base in primary care
• Self-testing of proteinuria during pregnancy: a pilot study
• Smoking cessation and Diabetes control (SCDC)
• The development of an educational and self-management programme for patients with early prostate cancer
• The influence of prior training on GPs’ attitudes to sickness absence certification with the 2010 ‘fit-note’ and on their reporting of work-related ill-health incidence
• Understanding and improving patient experience of gout in primary care
• Understanding patients’ experiences of medicine use in depression & development of a new section on www.healthtalk.org
• Use of ‘higher dose’ nicotine replacement therapy (NRT) for smoking cessation in pregnancy: investigating the role of nicotine metabolism and treatment adherence
• Validation studies within QResearch and CPRD
• Identification of gambling problems in primary care: A quantitative study
• Investigation of the factors behind the training choices of junior doctors which result in inadequate recruitment to general practice careers
• VOICES (Violence: Impact on Children Evidence Synthesis
• Can metaphors usefully represent underlying cognitive behaviour therapy principles for medically unexplained symptoms and how acceptable are such generic and MUS-specific metaphors to patients and practitioners?
• Assessing dementia risk in general practice: A qualitative study of the attitudes and views of patients and the public
• Feasibility of improving identification of familial hypercholesterolemia in general practice: qualitative intervention development study
• Blood Pressure Self-monitoring individual patient Meta-Analysis of Registered Trials: sub-group analyses in a Multi-Morbid population
• Towards person-centred care: development of a patient support needs tool for patients with advanced Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) in primary care
• Assessment of sarcopenia in primary care: Identifying potential practical tools for assessment and scope for intervention
• Process evaluation of the Digital Alcohol Management on Demand (DIAMOND) feasibility randomised controlled trial
• Exploring the barriers and facilitators to help-seeking by GPs: improving access to support
• Andrographis Paniculata (Chuān Xīn Lián) for symptomatic relief of respiratory tract infections in adults and children: a systematic review and meta-analysis
• Observational Study of a locally enhanced service to increase uptake of primary care vascular checks ("NHS Health Checks")
• Developing, testing and implementing the NIHR School for Primary Care Research Patient Safety Toolkit in general practices in England
• Understanding the costs and consequences ofand public involvement in Primary Care research
• Proactive familial breast cancer risk assessment in primary care (Phase 2)
• The effectiveness, safety and costs of orphan drugs: an evidence-based review.
• Validating patient-reported outcomes measures (PROMs) in adults with chronic kidney disease (CKD) at primary care setting
• Antidepressants for Insomnia - Cochrane review
• Incidence of osteoporosis and fracture in common inflammatory diseases in primary care
• Empowering People to Help Speak Up about Safety (EPHESUS) in Primary Care
• Validation of existing risk prediction models for colorectal cancer
• A systematic review of undergraduate medical education placements in general practice
• Investigating if depressed male primary care patients can be supported in groups
• Targeting treatments for depression: stepped care versus stratified care
• Internet-based distress reduction for primary care (INDRA)
• Understanding variations in outcomes in asthma and COPD: use of routine clinical data
• Children and adolescents with musculoskeletal pain in primary care: CAM-Pain feasibility study
• Understanding medical and non-medical antibiotic prescribing for RTIs in primary care out of hours services (the UNITE study)
• Assessing dementia risk in general practice: a qualitative study of the attitudes and views of primary care health professionals
• Patient Reported Outcomes (PROs) in Clinical trials: Systematic Review of Trial Protocols' groups
• IMprovIng access to DemeNtiA caRE for BriTish ethnic minorities (MINARET)
• A qualitative study exploring the attitudes and beliefs of health professionals around the use of herbal medicines in the treatment of symptoms of acute respiratory tract infections.
•  Understanding the volume and content of general practice consultations: the 5th National Morbidity Study
• Development and pre-­testing a tailored interactive voice response (IVR) intervention to support adherence to anti-­hypertensive medications
• Patients perspectives and understanding of high performing safety conscious general practice