Safer Integrated Health
& Social Care Environments

Our research

Safer Integrated Health and Social Care Environments

People are living with more complicated health issues and having to see a larger number of health and social care professionals because of this. This can lead to many appointments, repeating information, and lots of traveling to different places.

Our theme is focused on where and how we can join up care and provide a better service for the person in need of support. Health and social care cover a broad range of support, from prevention (such as the screening and safeguarding) to recovery (such as moving from hospital back home) and everything in between.

We know health is not just physical, but instead a mix of physical, mental, and social. Our theme looks at both health systems (such as hospitals and GP surgeries) and social care systems (community-based organisations and social support) to understand where the gaps are.

One person holding the hand of a person in a wheele chair with both hands. Image focused in on the hands

Make Research Inclusive by Design

The Culturally Competent Research Framework (CCRF) is a practical toolkit to help researchers embed equity, inclusivity, and cultural competence at every stage of the research journey — from idea to impact.

Created through an NIHR-funded collaboration of academics, community leaders, policy makers, translators, and interpreters, the CCRF turns evidence and lived experience into 25 actionable steps for designing and delivering culturally competent research.

Start here. Start now.

Explore the framework and make inclusion the standard — not the afterthought.

 

Culturally Competent Research Framework

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Integrated Health and Social Care updates

Our Theme News

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Screen depicting hospital patient monitoring in a domenstic home

Faiza Yahya’s latest publication! Development of a Hospital at Home Digital Twin for Patients With Frailty: Scoping Review

How can we make the most of advanced technology and live information to improve how we deliver hospital-level care at home?

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Lauren Lawson presenting her poster at the BMJ International Forum on Quality and Safety in Healthcare

Reflections from the International Forum on Quality and Safety in Healthcare, Singapore 2025

PhD Student, Lauren Lawson reflects on her presentation at the BMJ International Forum on Quality and Safety in Healthcare in Singapore.

Reflections from the International Forum on Quality and Safety in Healthcare, Singapore 2025
Artist visual representation of the framework of Recommendations from the PreSIDInt Study

Sharing Our Work on Culturally Competent Research at ENCATC Congress 2025, Barcelona, 15-17th September

Evgenia Stepanova presented research at ENCATC congress in Barcelona, September 2025

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Evgenia Stepanova, Research Associate, Nathioal Insitute for Health and care Research, Newcastle PAtient Safety Research

Hospital to Home – highlighting the essential role of involving patient and the public through meaningful PPIE (Patient and Public Involvement and Engagement)

Professor Hamde Nazar and Evgenia Stepanova reflect on how these contributions shaped the research and deepened its relevance and impact.

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North East Carers Summit

North East Carers Summit. Tuesday 30th September 2025 from 11am – 2pm at the Boiler House, Newcastle University, NE1 7RU.

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Reflections from a Summer Intership within the NIHR Newcastle PSRC.

During the summer of 2025, Dr Matt Cooper and Dr Charlotte Richardson hosted four undergraduate and postgraduate students at Newcastle University to complete a research internship. Three of the interns have reflected on this experience.

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Orange background with network cables expanding out of a blue cross some going to hoses and hospitals. with the text NIHR SafetyNet Technology-Enabled Virtual Wards (or Hospital at Home care) event

Summing up of NIHR SafetyNet Technology Enabled Virtual Wards (Hospital to Home care) Event

Professor Hamde Nazar sums up the NIHR SafetyNet Technology Enabled Virtual Wards (Hospital to Home care) event with PPIE member Susan Mountain.

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Cartoon image or people standing together

Patient, Public Contributors Blog series.

Bringing carers together to share their insights.

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Cartoon: two people outside a building with writting saying

Patient, Public Contributors Blog series.

“health professionals and researchers want to hear the “good, the bad and the ugly” about failures of health care in the UK”

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Cartoon image or people standing together

Patient, Public Contributors Blog series.

Raising awareness for the unpaid, unselfish work unpaid family carers do.

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What it means to be a Carer art piece.

What it means to be a Carer?

Art piece developed by the Tilly Hale Carer Research Panel lead by Dr Matt Cooper

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Attendees at the Sept 24 Virtual Wards event

Virtual Wards PSRC SafetyNet Event Sept 2024

The event aimed to facilitate discussion to identify and develop research priorities and partnerships in the virtual wards area of research

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Professor Hamde Nazar

Shared Care

Shared Care: Drama under the radar, by Dr Hamde Nazar Co Theme Lead for Safer Integrated Health and Social Care environments.

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Dr Charlotte Richardson, Dr Laura Lindsay, Professor Hamde Nazar, Dr Matt Cooper

Tilly Hare Award 2024 granted

Matt Cooper, Hamde Nazar, Charlotte Richardson, and Laura Lindsay granted a Tilly Hale Award for their approach to involving informal (unpaid) carers in driving their research agenda.

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Health Care Professional pushing patient in a wheel chare

Supporting Care Transitions for Older Adults

Investigating how we can use digital technologies to support older adults with multiple, complex health and social care needs, to ensure they remain safe as they move between different care environments.

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What it means to be a Carer art piece.
This art piece, “What it means to be a Carer?”, was commissioned by The Tilly Hale Carer Research Panels. It is an interpretation of the feelings and emotions felt by the carers involved. To find out more about its creation please read our blog written by Dr Matt Cooper, “What it means to be a Carer?”.

Meet the Safer Integrated Health and Social Care Environments theme

Professor Hamde Nazar

Safer Intergrated Health and Social Care Environments Theme Lead

Professor Annette Hand

Safer Intergrated Health and Social Care Environments Co-Theme Lead

Dr Matthew Cooper

Safer Intergrated Health and Social Care Environments Research Associate

James Blyth

Safer Intergrated Health and Social Care Environments, Research Software Specialist

Faiza Yahya

Safer Intergrated Health and Social Care Environments, PhD Student

Lauren Lawson

Safer Intergrated Health and Social Care Environments, PhD Student

Integrated Health & Social Care Publications and Awards

Researchers from the Integrated Health and Social Care theme have the following outputs and awards.

Lawson, L. Cooper, M. Tolley, C. Hand, A. Nazar, H.

Do hospital-to-home transitions work for older adults with multiple long-term conditions including dementia? A realist review

Hospital-to-home transitions involve multiple providers and are particularly complex for older adults with dementia, who often live with additional conditions. Frequent transitions increase the risk of errors, miscommunication, and treatment delays, compromising patient safety and leading to potentially increased mortality, morbidity, and preventable readmissions. Understanding what works and does not work in these processes is essential to improving outcomes.

BMC Geriatrics logo

Yahya F, Bartlett S, Paudyal V, Hadi MA, Nazar H, Maidment I. Informing research design through patient and public involvement; patients and carers with lived experience post-hospital discharge and potential roles for general practice pharmacists. BMC Research Notes. 2025 Apr 17;18(1):181. 

 

Medication safety across care transitions remains a significant burden on healthcare systems. Patient and Public Involvement (PPI) is useful at the very early stages of intervention development to inform research priorities. The aim of this PPI was to scope patients’ and carers’ lived experiences of medicines management post-hospital discharge to inform the design of a research proposal.

 

BCM Research Notes journal logo

Cooper M, Nazar H, Flynn D, Redelsteiner C, Agarwal G, Scott J. Conceptualising Social Prescribing in Urgent and Emergency Care. Future Healthcare Journal. 2024 Oct 21:100199.

 

This paper examines how social prescribing could be implemented across urgent and emergency care (UEC) systems by examining potentially viable referral pathways and the salient challenges and barriers to implementation. In doing so, we consider a range of services involved in the broader UEC system to include emergency departments, emergency medical (ambulance) services, out-of-hours general practitioners, telephony-based urgent care, urgent treatment centres, and community pharmacy. This paper aims to encourage further debate on this topic, including around the nuances of UEC services that may influence implementation of social prescribing.

 

Future Healthcare Journal Logo

Cooper, M. Flynn, D. Scott, J. Ashley, K. Avery, L. Barriers and Facilitators to the Design and Delivery of Social Prescribing Services to Support Adult Mental Health: Perspectives of Social Prescribing Service Providers. Health and Social Care in the Community. Volume 2024, Issue 1.

 

Service providers are an essential part of the design and delivery of social prescribing services. Person-centred care, sustainable funding, and improved knowledge of social prescribing all warrant further research. Sustainable funding for social prescribing remains a salient policy-level barrier.