Research team
Core research team
Dr Charlotte Sharp
Project lead
Honorary Senior Clinical Lecturer, University of Manchester, & Consultant Rheumatologist, Manchester Royal Infirmary, Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust
Charlotte is a health services researcher with research and practice interests in communicating with patients, implementation, digital innovation and quality improvement, with expertise in qualitative methodology and collaboration with patients.
She has been writing outpatient clinic letters directly to patients since 2019, and has struggled to understand why the practice has not been taken up more widely. She is really excited to explore patients’ and healthcare professionals’ views on writing directly to patients, and to try to support colleagues to change their practice.
Dr Rebecca Goulding – Project researcher
Research Associate, The University of Manchester
Rebecca is an experienced health services researcher, with established interests in health communication, access to care, treatment burden, patient involvement and patient safety, particularly for people with long-term conditions/multiple long-term conditions (multimorbidity).
She is passionate about improving patients’ interactions with and experience of healthcare services, and involving patients and other stakeholders in research.
Rebecca relishes the opportunity to work on this project and contribute to improving communication between members of the rheumatology multidisciplinary team and their patients.
Project working group
Prof Will Dixon
Professor of Digital Epidemiology at The University of Manchester & Honorary Consultant Rheumatologist at Salford Royal, Northern Care Alliance NHS Foundation Trust
Will’s research aims to address clinically important questions by analysing data from patient populations, with particular focus on digital health data.
This includes the analysis of electronic health record data from GP surgeries and from hospitals (for example, examining the safety of drugs used in rheumatology) and the collection and analysis of data direct from patients using smartphones and wearables.
Dr Brian McMillan
Senior Clinical Lecturer and GP, The University of Manchester
Brian is a National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) Advanced Fellow at the Centre for Primary Care and Health Services Research, a practising GP and a registered Health Psychologist.
His research interests include the application of digital technology and psychological theory to improving patients’ experiences of primary care. He is interested in how digital technology and psychological theory can be used to improve patients’ experiences of primary care.
He has examined quality assurance of mobile health apps, looked at how digital technology can help reduce the risk of type 2 diabetes, and explored what patients and healthcare staff want from patient online health records access.
His current projects include work on improving patients’ and clinicians’ experiences of records access and developing tools to enhance the impact of this emerging practice.
Dr Jill Firth
Consultant Nurse in Rheumatology, Pennine Musculoskeletal (MSK) Partnership
Jill has worked in rheumatology since 1997, including a period as Senior Research Fellow in Long Term Conditions and Lead Postgraduate Research Tutor for the School of Healthcare at the University of Leeds (2004-2011).
Jill has promoted specialist nursing in rheumatology nationally and internationally through education, research and publications. Wide-ranging research interests also include shared decision-making and support for self-care. Until recently, Jill was Director for Service Improvement at Pennine MSK Partnership, and she continues to support research in the service as a Consultant Nurse and Principal Investigator.
She believes it has been surprisingly challenging to implement best practice guidance to write outpatient clinic letters directly to patients. This project is an exciting opportunity to explore the barriers and levers to implementation, and she is looking forward to working with colleagues and patients to co-produce resources to support better communication.
Mr Will Gregory
Consultant Physiotherapist, Northern Care Alliance NHS Foundation Trust
Will is a Consultant Physiotherapist working for the Rheumatology Team at Salford Royal. He is currently supporting the British Society for Rheumatology as Vice-President (for Healthcare Professionals), which ties in with his passion for improving healthcare delivery by the optimal engagement and support of the broader workforce.
Will is delighted to support this project, as it feeds into his interest in promoting supported self-management for those living with long-term conditions.
Dr Elizabeth MacPhie
Consultant Rheumatologist, Lancashire and South Cumbria NHS Foundation Trust
Lizzy is a Consultant Rheumatologist in Preston and Clinical Lead for the Integrated Musculoskeletal Service. She works in a community-based service and has been involved with the tender and then mobilisation of a new integrated service, which has been a unique opportunity to be heavily involved with service redesign.
Lizzy has held the roles of Chair of the Clinical Affairs Committee and Chair of the Standards, Audit and Guidelines Working Group at the British Society for Rheumatology. She has developed a particular interest in quality improvement through her work with service redesign, and is an advocate of sharing good practice. She is the Clinical and Care Professional Lead for Central and West Lancashire.
Dr Karen Staniland
Lead Patient Partner
Karen is the patient lead for the project, and an equal member of the project working group.
This is the third research project she has joined as a patient. She has contributed to the design of the project and will guide the patient and public involvement and engagement strategy.
Karen has had rheumatoid arthritis for 12 years, and lives in England. A nurse by background, she believes that having a patient perspective (or lived experience) within research studies is very important. Clinicians writing directly to patients can help to support a shared relationship and this, in turn, can help build trust for the treatment of chronic illness.
Patient and public involvement and engagement (PPIE) group
Colin McGoegh
Patient partner
I live in Glasgow and have had rheumatoid arthritis for about 3 years. I have worked in hospitality previously, and currently work at a fire station. I have been involved in research studies before working with the writing to patients team, and find it an important, enjoyable and informative thing to do. to feel it’s taken less seriously.
Ermelinda Brito
Patient Partner
My name is Ermelinda Brito. I am Portuguese citizen, resident in North Ireland. I am 56 years old and have had Rheumatoid arthritis since 2010. My interest in the project is contribute to the writing letters to patients.
Iniobong Ekang
Patient Partner
I am an inclusion, culture and capability practitioner. I have lived-experience of being a patient with long-term health conditions, sprinkled with autism, ADHD and other intersectionality. I am passionate about diversity, equity and inclusion and our collective human potential and aim to work with all stakeholders including patients, carers, policy and decision makers, and our community to proactively transform our health care system by leveraging our unique and collective capabilities and experiences.
I believe in co-production and experience-led decision making, and have championed these in my roles as an Advisory and Steering Committee Member, Patient Partner and Clinical Trial/Research Participant. So you will see me actively getting uncomfortable, challenging my own thinking and the status quo to create opportunities for everyone, particularly those who are disproportionately impacted, disadvantaged or unrepresented. My hope is to help us find the learning opportunities in our differences, and the common ground to solve, resolve and evolve towards reducing the health inequalities that plague our society whilst delivering better value for patients, our community and the NHS. I look forward to co-creating the future we want together.
Former members of the PPIE group
Asima Iqbal
Patient Partner
I am a Manchester-based marketing and communications consultant serving the charity and private sector. I am also the founder of a meaningful jewellery brand that promotes spiritual wellness. I was interested in becoming a patient partner for this research study as I believe patients should be given the opportunity to be directly informed and engaged in their own healthcare decisions.
Owen Harries
Patient Partner
Hi! I’m Owen, a 23-year-old with psoriatic arthritis, living in Wales. I’m interested in the project because I’d like to help out in any way I can to try and improve the experience people have when it comes to having arthritis in the NHS, especially for younger people where it’s easy to feel it’s taken less seriously.
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