Healthcare research shouldn’t sit around in journals getting dusty – it should be making a difference to people’s lives.

That’s the attitude of Bristol’s MS Therapeutic Opportunities (TOPS) team, who won the Real-World Evidence in Care category at 2017’s QuDoS event.

The team brings clinical and research specialists together to ensure that patients are referred to studies and projects they might benefit from in a timely manner.

Tania Burge, MS Clinical Physiotherapist with the team, also won Outstanding allied health professional working in MS at the 2017 ceremony.

She explained: “Traditionally, research doesn’t sit in a clinical setting. You refer people on, and they may be reviewed for a research trial, but you wouldn’t necessarily see them or get the feedback on how it’s working for them.

“This way, we manage them as a team. The main benefit of that is you are providing seamless care.”

Two-way referral street

Angela Davies Smith, MS clinical specialist research physiotherapist, straddles, as her title suggests, clinical and research roles. She is working on several projects looking at factors including tremor management, fatigue management and functional electronic stimulation (FES).

Said Angela: “Because we all work together, we can refer directly into the various research studies and vice versa into clinical services.”

People who attend the Fatigue: Applying Cognitive behavioural and Energy effectiveness Techniques to lifeStyle (FACETS) course, for example are invited to participate in an fMRI study investigating  the correlates of fatigue, being held at the University of Bristol University’s Clinical Research Imaging Centre.

Those with upper limb problems and tremor are referred to a dedicated upper limb advice clinic and also invited to take part in a tremor study which is supported by MS Research charity MSRTE.

“It means they are able to participate in clinical services and research in a timely manner,” added Angela.

It also means that patients are always offered gold standard care, because they are part of the evolution of interventions.

For example, Angela was part of the team who carried out the original FACETS study back in the late 2000s.

She continues to be part of the rolling out and improvement of the programme, and even travelled to Australia earlier this year to train her counterparts to deliver and disseminate the course.

“The programme is being run clinically, but there’s always other aspects to it. The research team, based at University of Bournemouth, is looking at some digital delivery for people that can’t attend things like that.

“It’s being rolled out across the UK, is travelling around the world, and is being translated into various languages,” she said, adding it was, thanks to funding from the MS Society, a perfect example of a research study becoming a successful, clinical intervention.

Building evidence-based interventions

In a world of dwindling NHS resources, it’s never been more important for allied health professionals to provide evidenced practice, the pair agreed.

Tania said: “There was definitely a time when there was an expansion of therapists working in MS. But the NHS is now under such austerity measures that there are fewer specialist posts and a push towards being generic.

“However, the feedback from patients is that they want specialists who understands their MS and the rehabilitation they need.”

By testing and rolling out effective interventions, the team not only help people with MS to better self-manage their long-term condition – they also reduce pressure on the stretched health service.

Angela said: “The sorts of initiatives Tania is doing, her gym-based balance groups, and aquatherapy at a community swimming pool, and the kind of interventions I run, such as fatigue management: these are all things that encourage and enable people to take on their own management.

“There’s an aspect of that that not only helps the individuals, but also the NHS.”

Credit where credit’s due

Taking part in recognition events, such as QuDoS, is another way to shout about the good work of AHPs, they said.

Tania said: “Patients and our immediate colleagues know what we do. But often the wider team, or even some at a management level, don’t always realise some of the services we provide or understand the collaborative work we do.

“Being part of QuDoS gives a definite recognition and publicity that shows the MS community appreciates what we are doing.”

She went on to say that scooping the Outstanding allied health professional working in MS title had led to lots of opportunities that may not have been open to her otherwise.

“It has raised my profile. I’ve been asked to do several different things since winning such as advisory work and I am now on the committee of UK Therapists in MS (TiMS).

“I would say that, as a clinician, my name is more recognised than it was previously,” said Tania.

Angela added that just the process of nominating your team or attending the QuDoS event were opportunities to take a step back and see the wood for the trees.

“Everyone is so busy that they don’t really have the time to stand back and reflect.

“But just the process of applying, of putting pen to paper and unpicking what you are doing, makes you realise just how much you are actually achieving for your patients,” she said.

To nominate yourself, your team or a colleague to the QuDoS recognition programme, click here.  Entries are now closed, however we will still consider late entries on an individual basis. Judging takes place in early October 2019.