Manchester

This project, in collaboration with NHS Frimley ICB, offers interns hands-on experience with real-world patient data in developing an assessment instrument for patient satisfaction with ambulatory continuous glucose monitoring.

Supervised by two academics, interns will engage with stakeholders from NHS organisations, gaining valuable insights into healthcare research and policy. They will design the assessment tool, conduct statistical analyses using advanced software, and apply various inferential techniques to interpret findings.

Beyond data analysis, interns will translate their results into policy and practice recommendations, presenting their findings to key stakeholders at Frimley ICB. Additionally, they will refine their academic writing skills by contributing to a manuscript for submission to a peer-reviewed journal.

Care transitions are widely recognised as a vulnerable and high-risk stage in the healthcare journey, involving multiple professionals working across different sectors. In the UK, a significant proportion of people who die by suicide have recently been discharged from secondary mental health services to primary care. Improving systems, processes, and support during this critical period could save lives.

Patients discharged from inpatient mental health wards often highlight safety concerns, such as inadequate information sharing and limited involvement in decisions about their discharge. To address these issues, we have worked with patients, carers, and professionals to co-design and develop a care bundle intervention called SAFER Mental Health (SAFER-MH).

This year, we are running co-design workshops, focus groups, and consensus studies to further refine SAFER-MH and identify what additional support may be needed in primary care. To support this work, we are seeking an intern to assist with data analysis and help develop an academic publication.

The intern will have the opportunity to manage a small qualitative research project. This includes analysing qualitative data that has already been collected, identifying key themes and recommendations using NVivo software, and contributing to drafting a journal article as a co-author. They will also join team meetings, gaining valuable experience in mental health research and care transitions.

This work is part of the wider SAFER-MH project, offering a unique opportunity to learn about how mental health interventions are co-designed with input from those directly impacted. You can find more details about the study here.