Source: Alamy

Birthplace of new ideas: interdisciplinary work can make a real difference

¡°I¡¯d do it for another three years, absolutely no question about it, but I think you¡¯re only allowed one term,¡± laughed Tim Draycott when asked if he would consider applying for a second Health Foundation Improvement Science Fellowship.

Mr Draycott, clinical senior lecturer at the University of Bristol and consultant obstetrician at North Bristol NHS Trust, benefited from a fellowship ¨C which offers senior postdoctoral candidates three years¡¯ research funding and a tailored leadership development programme among other things ¨C to develop the PROMPT (practical obstetric multi-professional training) course.

The course has been associated with improved knowledge, communication and teamwork in dealing with childbirth emergencies.

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His work, along with that of two other Bristol researchers, contributed to the university recently winning a Queen¡¯s Anniversary Prize.

¡°The main benefit was being [given] three years of head space ¨C thinking time ¨C which has been great because in the middle of a busy NHS job, it¡¯s difficult sometimes to think deeply and in a sophisticated way about the intervention we¡¯ve actually arrived [at],¡± he said.

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The fellowship, which brought practitioners and social science academics together, allowed them to get a ¡°broader, better, deeper understanding of how to make a difference¡±.

¡°I¡¯ve spent a lifetime training to better understand how to look after women in labour, but you leave behind other areas for which other people have incredible expertise ¨C we can work together and harness that expertise,¡± he said. He said such interdisciplinary working needed to be more prevalent.

¡°If practitioners could work with other academics more broadly, I think there¡¯s something really exciting in it,¡± he said. ¡°The trouble is we all live in silos and ivory towers. By working altogether [and] understanding intervention¡­even more mothers [are saved].¡±

The fellowship and the backing of the Health Foundation ¨C a charity working to improve the quality of healthcare in the UK ¨C was invaluable, he said.

¡°They¡¯re completely independent and that makes them a very powerful organisation,¡± he said. ¡°For example, the standard research streams in the NHS would not fund three years¡¯ thinking time for some projects. They also find it very difficult to fund a multi-professional group of academics and practitioners.¡±

The ¡°external validation¡± of the Queen¡¯s Anniversary Prize not only affirms the decision to award the fellowship, he said, but also has an added effect of extending his work beyond the UK.

¡°Outside the UK it has put, literally, a royal polish on our work,¡± he said. ¡°It visibly has made a difference on our work for overseas audiences ¨C India, China, Singapore, Malaysia.¡±

The Health Foundation¡¯s involvement through the fellowship also meant that the project could gain a foothold at ¡°high policymaking levels¡±.

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¡°If you¡¯re a working obstetrician, albeit in an academic unit in Bristol, you¡¯re not automatically at the top table of policymaking,¡± he said.

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¡°What the Health Foundation has been really useful for is the weight of their organisation to get traction at that kind of level.¡±

john.elmes@tsleducation.com