Leading academic Dr Kirsty Marshall has joined Northern Care Alliance at Rochdale to support colleagues in research that promotes integrated system working.
She will work with NCA’s Centre for Clinical and Care Research to support non-medical groups of staff such as nurses, physiotherapists, occupational therapists, social workers and voluntary sector workers to lead or become involved in research to promote integrated system working and to highlight best practice that can be shared. She is currently editing a book which contains case studies of Rochdale best practice.
Dr Marshall comes from a nursing background. Having headed up Bury’s community nursing team, she then worked at Tameside and Glossop as part of the team developing integrated care services before her academic work led to her role at Salford University in 2017. She also worked in a national role as Productive Ward facilitator for the NHS institute for innovation and improvement. She completed her Doctorate in 2020, looking at the impact of integration on staff within community services and patient experience of integration.
Sharing best practice
Her 12-month secondment, two days a week, is in addition to her role as senior lecturer at the University of Salford in the school of health and society. She will work alongside Rochdale Research Ambassador, Dr Stuart Stewart, a GP registrar, identifying staff with an interest in research and supporting their research projects. She has also encouraged staff members from Rochdale Care Organisation to enrol on specialist nursing and community courses at the University of Salford.
Dr Marshall said: “It has been an exciting opportunity for me to join Northern Care Alliance at Rochdale to be able to spot opportunities for greater sharing of best practice that will ultimately improve services and experiences for communities. I have just returned from a working trip in Finland where I was studying the way health opportunities are built into everyday lives. There opportunities to stay healthy and prevent illness are built into the fabric of society. I will continue going out to teams in the Rochdale system in order to look how I can best support research projects so that the work in Rochdale can be showcased and shared with other teams across the conurbation, the country and internationally.”