Harmful experiences of NHS care and how protected characteristics and intersectionality influence healthcare outcomes – participants needed for research study

Summary

Research fellow, Lavanya Thana, talks to Patient Safety Learning about her latest project, looking at experiences of healthcare-related harm in the NHS. Lavanya explains why this research is so important, how people can register to take part and her hopes for how the findings might help improve safety for patients from minority backgrounds.

Content

Can you tell us about yourself, your role and your areas of interest?

I am currently a research fellow working on a study about experiences of healthcare-related harm with colleagues from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) and the University of Oxford. For the last 12 years, my areas of interest have been in patient experience and safety, particularly on harm experienced by those from minority backgrounds in health and mental health care settings.

Why have you chosen this research area?

My PhD research began as a safety concern in mental health services, which I observed while working as a researcher on randomised control trials of various talking treatments. As a person from an ethnic minority background myself working in the patient safety space, giving voice to underrepresented patients has become central to my research intentions and career direction.

What existing research is there in this area?

It is widely known that those with protected characteristics are particularly susceptible to experiencing harm in healthcare settings. There is a body of research which indicates inequities in patient safety amongst minority population groups with one or more protected characteristics and those facing broader inequalities compared to those without.[1,2,3] However, little is known about the factors that influence these differences. Furthermore, the research we are carrying out currently supports patient safety nationally, inequity being a current priority area for safety research and policy.

What are you hoping to explore and how?

We are carrying out individual interviews with a small number of people to explore their experience(s) of harm. People are asked to tell us about their experience, and any actions they took following these events.

The interview usually lasts between 60 and 90 minutes, taking place at a convenient time for the participant, using video-conferencing software (such as Zoom, Teams, Skype, or Facetime) or over the telephone. They can choose to have a friend or family member with them for support if they wish.

Who are you looking for to participate?

We are looking for adults in the UK who have experienced psychological or physical harm from any care or treatment they received from the NHS in the last 5 years. The selection of who to interview is based on the need to hear from a wide range of people with different backgrounds and experiences, particularly disabled people and those from diverse ethnic, religious, sexual and gender groups.

How can people register their interest in taking part?

Researchers, Lavanya Thana and Helen Crocker, can be contacted on 07849 310 428 or healthcare.experiences@lshtm.ac.uk for more information. Please get in touch by 7 December.

What are the next steps for the research project?

We will be conducting the remaining interviews with participants up until mid-December. After that we will analyse the interview data and write up the findings for publication, and summaries for study participants, in early 2024.

How do you hope your findings might contribute to safer care?

The research team intends to provide additional insight into harmful experiences of NHS care particularly focused on how protected characteristics and intersectionality influence healthcare outcomes. In doing so, we hope to put forward recommendations for further research into patient safety improvements that can reduce these disparities and inform national safety improvement programmes and initiatives.

Will you keep us posted? 

Absolutely, we look forward to publishing our findings next year and sharing them on your platform!

References

1. Kapadia D, Zhang J, Salway S, Nazroo J, Booth A. Ethnic Inequalities in Healthcare: A Rapid Evidence Review. 2022:166.
2. Piccardi C, Detollenaere J, Vanden Bussche P, Willems S. Social disparities in patient safety in primary care: a systematic review. Int J Equity Health. 2018 Dec;17(1):114.
3. Wade C, Malhotra AM, McGuire P, Vincent C, Fowler A. Action on patient safety can reduce health inequalities. BMJ. 2022 Mar 29.

Can we help you with your research?

Can we help you? Where the topic is relevant to patient safety, we can work with researchers in a number of ways: 

• To help recruit participants
• To share links to published papers via the hub and through our social media.
• To create content (blogs, interviews, videos) that help provide context around findings or research projects.

Contact the hub team at content@pslhub.org to discuss further.