Rose Hill Community Centre Research Showcase

The South East Oxford Health Alliance Primary care network (SeOxHA PCN) is a collective of three practices, all based in the OX4 area of Oxford. The practices are The Leys Health Centre, Donnington Medical Partnership, and Temple Cowley Medical Practice.

These practices serve some of Oxford's most socio-economically deprived areas. And they had a problem: all three had historically been research-active, but had stopped participating in research. The reasons were familiar – capacity and workload challenges, mostly.

We recognised this as a loss. Not just for the practices, but for research equity more broadly. If research wasn't happening in these communities, how could we ensure our work was relevant and resonant to the people who lived here?

Rebuilding research infrastructure

We were supported by NDPHCS to apply for ARC support in re-establishing research in this PCN. We were very grateful to be awarded a grant that provided resources and support to:

• Train clinicians working across all the practices to participate in research
• Develop practice research infrastructure across SeOxHA

Crucially, we did this in partnership with a patient advisory panel, who shaped everything we did. They guided us on which studies to participate in and which research they felt would be relevant, interesting and acceptable to their communities.

This support from the ARC has been transformative. We've transitioned from research inactive to being recognised as highly active research practices.

Saying thank you – and showing our work

We wanted to say thank you to the people who make the research happen. And we wanted to do something else: create an opportunity for people doing research about improving health in primary care to speak directly with people from our PCN community.

Our patient advisory panel made specific requests about who should be there. They asked for researchers across a wide range of subjects and types of research.

It's a tribute to the breadth of research done in NDPHCS – and to the support and commitment of the researchers in the department – that we were able to meet all of their requests. We had representation from across the department, including:

• Primary care cancer group
• Women's health and endometriosis
• Maternity health and hypertension in pregnancy
• Heart failure and cardiovascular health
• Antibiotic stewardship and infection care
• Dementia, diabetes and health behaviours
• Research involvement and patient public involvement and engagement

There were conversations about different types of work too – innovation and technology, qualitative research, epidemiology and cohort studies, randomised controlled trials. We were hoping to de-mystify research and have conversations about getting involved – perhaps for people who might not have been sure or considered it before.

We were also delighted to have guest support from NDORMs. Simon Wood, a physiotherapist and NIHR doctoral research fellow, joined us to share his research into musculoskeletal pain and MSK conditions.

The day itself: June 25th at Rose Hill Community Centre

On 25th June, we held a community event at the Rose Hill Community Centre. Information about the event was sent by text to all patients within the PCN and shared with all the GP practices in the city who serve the OX4 region. We also advertised it on networks and put flyers up in practices and community centres.

What the researchers experienced

The researchers who joined us told us they really enjoyed speaking with people from the community – people they wouldn't otherwise have crossed paths with. The informal atmosphere helped encourage questions and conversation.

Kerri from the RDN reflected: "I had some great conversations with members of the East Oxford community about participation in research and was able to raise awareness of the NIHR Be Part of Research Registry."

Polly said: "It was great to get out and chat to people who I wouldn't otherwise have crossed paths with. Although they are interested in research, they weren't aware of the different ways to get involved but hopefully they will consider it now."

Phil Turner's team really valued speaking with people who had been part of technology trial studies they are conducting within these practices.

Simon Wood reflected: "I loved meeting a diverse population who all gave me their individual stories of their experience with musculoskeletal pain. I gained a valuable insight into the effects it has on an individual level."

Clare Goyder appreciated the chance to discuss her work. "It was a pleasure to be a part of the research showcase. It was a brilliant opportunity to connect with the public and patients from all backgrounds. I enjoyed discussing both what I'm working on currently and why I do clinical research. I particularly appreciated the chance to discuss the REDUCE-HF study which has just launched that I am co-leading with Emily McFadden. People I spoke to were glad that research that specifically focused on addressing health inequalities – such as improving the detection of heart failure, particularly in the most deprived 20% of the national population – was underway locally."

What the community said

Community members who attended appreciated the "welcoming and nice environment with open discussions" and the "knowledge transition from researchers to the community in a digestible format which was easy to understand."

They also raised important points for future work. They asked for:

• Insights into how to access dementia support for ethnically diverse community members
• More knowledge about the journey from research and learnings to support being available in the community

A reminder to keep listening

Lucy Goddard reflected on what the day reminded us: "It was great to be part of this community research showcase. Events like these remind us that meaningful engagement starts with showing up, listening, and reflecting – like when one attendee shared that research posters and information sheets can be intimidating, prompting us as researchers to interrogate why this is and what we can do about it."

Gratitude

We are hugely grateful to the NIHR Oxford and Thames Valley Applied Research Collaboration, NIHR Research Delivery Network, South East Oxford Health Alliance and Nuffield Department of Primary Care Health Science for their support with this event – and crucially for their support in developing and enabling research infrastructure in our PCN.

And we are hugely grateful to, and appreciative of, the community members who have been advisors to us on this journey, and to everyone that came and chatted and joined us at the event.