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Research

My main interests are in the fields of outcomes research and health economics, with a current emphasis on patient reported outcome measures (PROMs) and on leveraging routine healthcare data to support care delivery, quality improvement and research. My research maps to themes of Health Informatics and Clinical Trials within my department and the wider University.

I would be pleased to hear from potential PhD students interested in research in the following areas: Patient-Reported Outcome Measures (PROMs) and/or analysis of routine health data (including electronic health records).

Research Interest 1: Patient Reported Outcome Measures (PROMs)

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The IBD-Control Questionnaire

My recent research has focused on development, validation and applications of the IBD-Control Questionnaire - a simple, generic PROM designed to measure "disease control from the patient perspective".

Since it's original publication, IBD-Control has received growing recognition and international adoption in clinical practice, quality improvement and research.

It is offered licence-free to the IBD community (copyright reserved).

For more information, please visit:
IBD-Control Questionnaire Website:
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*The GeneSIS Project: Generic Standardised Item Set*

Starting in December 2024, I will be co-leading an NIHR-funded project which will focus on improving the use of remote assessment questionnaires in the NHS. This work will seek to describe variation in practice, develop a taxonomy and produce a tool kit to support better standardisation of questionnaire content.

Part of the project will explore stakeholder views on using validated, standardised generic questions where possible across chronic conditions.

Research Interest 2: Use of Routinely Collected Healthcare Data

I have a longstanding interest in finding ways to improve the use of routinely collected healthcare data, particularly Hospital Episode Statisics. Recent work funded by the UK Government (Connected Health Cities, North West Coast) generated a novel cohort-discovery algorithm for emergency admissions for alcohol-related liver disease. This work has challenged the use of simplistic definitions for generating statistics on NHS activity and outcome and we propose a new method for measuring true burden and mortality:

Connected Health Cities - Alcohol-related liver disease pathway
Liverpool Alcohol Related Liver Disease Algorithm - LAA
Towards a Learning Health System for ARLD
Independent endorsement of the LAA methodology
Latest Research: Ten-year trends in outcome for first admissions for ARLD in England

Research grants

IBD Registry Research Analytical hub

IBD REGISTRY (UK)

April 2020 - September 2022

NIHR ARC 2 national social care implementation projects

DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH & SOCIAL CARE (UK), LCCG - LIVERPOOL CLINICAL COMMISSIONING GROUP (UK)

October 2019 - March 2026

Maximising the value of the UK IBD Registry for service delivery, audit and research

NAT ASSOC FOR COLITIS & CROHNS DISEASE (UK)

August 2015 - March 2019

Record keeping in patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) within electronic patient record systems: Current practice and motivations for collecting structured data

MEDICAL RESEARCH COUNCIL

September 2017 - January 2021

Cost-effective modelling for benefit-risk assessment - PhD Studentship for Heather Catt

MEDICAL RESEARCH COUNCIL

October 2015 - December 2018