University of Southampton, UK
School of Health Sciences
The University of Southampton (SOTON), one of the leading universities in Britain, was founded in 1952 and is a member of the prestigious Russell Group of UK Universities. Southampton is an excellent venue for conducting cutting-edge research and for providing high quality education and has been ranked 96th in the 2019 QS World University Rankings. It has been ranked 8th in the UK for research and has 97% of its research environment rated as world leading or internationally excellent (Research Excellence Framework, 2014). It has more than 17,100 undergraduate and 7,500 postgraduate students from over 140 different countries.
The School of Health Sciences at Southampton was the most highly ranked faculty of its type in the UKs last research assessment (Research Excellence Framework 2014), ranked #1 for research intensity with all elements of our research impact and environment rated as internationally excellent. In the 2019 QS subject ranking Nursing within Health Sciences was ranked #5 in the world. Our Health Work Research groups contains a multi-disciplinary team of world-renowned researchers in workforce research, led by Professor Peter Griffiths who in 2017 was appointed senior investigator by the UK’s National Institute for Health Research (NIHR).
Senior Investigators are among the most prominent and prestigious researchers funded by the NIHR and the most outstanding leaders of patient and people-based research within the NIHR Faculty. The team brings expertise and application in the use of routinely collected data to determine the effects of changes in the organisation and delivery of nursing care, design and evaluation of complex interventions using mixed methods, the effects of organisational development programmes in hospital, process evaluation and collaborative approaches to organisational development, including learning collaboratives.
The School of Health Sciences at Southampton was the most highly ranked faculty of its type in the UKs last research assessment (Research Excellence Framework 2014), ranked #1 for research intensity with all elements of our research impact and environment rated as internationally excellent. In the 2019 QS subject ranking Nursing within Health Sciences was ranked #5 in the world. Our Health Work Research groups contains a multi-disciplinary team of world-renowned researchers in workforce research, led by Professor Peter Griffiths who in 2017 was appointed senior investigator by the UK’s National Institute for Health Research (NIHR).
Senior Investigators are among the most prominent and prestigious researchers funded by the NIHR and the most outstanding leaders of patient and people-based research within the NIHR Faculty. The team brings expertise and application in the use of routinely collected data to determine the effects of changes in the organisation and delivery of nursing care, design and evaluation of complex interventions using mixed methods, the effects of organisational development programmes in hospital, process evaluation and collaborative approaches to organisational development, including learning collaboratives.
Project staff
Ms Sydney Anstee BSc, Masters is a Senior Researcher within Health Sciences at University of Southampton. Sydney brings a mix of frontline and academic experience to research, project management and implementation, with a varied background in the NHS, public health, primary and secondary research, local government, third sector and social care. She has already worked on a wide range of different health topics such as orthopaedics, new models of care, intervention development and performance evaluation. Working for several years with the National Institute for Health Research, which commissions research in primary care, community health and disease prevention, Sydney can critically examine existing evidence and identify research priorities. In doing so, she works passionately to maximize the usefulness of research, increase its impact, and put evidence into practice.
Prof. Jane E Ball RGN, BSc (Hons) PhD is Professor of Nursing Workforce Policy at University of Southampton. She has been researching nurse staffing and workforce policy since 1990. One of her major interest is nurse staffing levels and the interface between research evidence and policy development. Much of her work has involved large-scale surveys of nurses’ employment and deployment, to explore the relationship between staffing and outcomes. In 1997 she co-authored the WHO’s guide to staffing and skill-mix, and whilst working as a Policy Adviser at the RCN in 2010 wrote the UK guidance on ‘Safe Nurse Staffing’. After working as Deputy Director of the National Nursing Research Unit, at King’s College London she moved to University of Southampton in 2014 and continues to research nurse staffing and skill-mix issues, and the impact on the delivery of fundamental care and patient outcomes. As part of the NIHR CLAHRC Wessex, she led work to determine what staff, patients and the public see as the research priorities to improve fundamental care on hospital wards. Working as part of the Health Workforce Research Group, she is contributing to several studies which explore the impact of variation in nurse staffing levels in more depth (e.g., ‘Missed Care Study’ and ‘SNCT study’).
Prof. Peter Griffiths PhD, BA, RN, FEANS, FHEA is Chair of Health Services Research and lead for the Health Workforce and Systems research group at University of Southampton. He also leads the Health Workforce and Systems in the National Institute for Health Research’s Applied Research Centre Wessex. His research focusses on the healthcare workforce, and in particular safe and effective nurse staffing. In 2017 he was appointed as a senior investigator for the National Institute for Health Research, a title which recognises the most prominent and prestigious researchers funded by the NIHR and the most outstanding leaders of patient and people-based research within the NIHR Faculty. Before joining the University of Southampton in 2011, Peter was director of the National Nursing Research Unit at King’s College London. He led on outcomes data collection for the global RN4CAST study. In 2014 he worked with the UKs National Institute for Health and Care Excellence to review evidence for its safe staffing programme following the Francis Inquiry and went on to work with NHS Improvement in developing safe staffing guidance for the NHS. He is an adjunct professor at Stockholm’s Karolinska Institute, distinguished visiting professor at the Chinese University of Hong Kong and a senior fellow at the Centre for Health Outcomes and Policy Research at the University of Pennsylvania.
Prof. Jackie Bridges PhD, MSN, B.Nurs (Hons), RN, PG Cert is Professor of Older People’s Care at University of Southampton. Her programme of work focuses on the organisation and delivery of health care to older people with complex needs. She leads a major programme of research focused on professional work and organisational change related to older people's care and steers the development and delivery of associated educational provision within Health Sciences. Jackie leads the Ageing and Dementia research group and is an investigator for NIHR ARC Wessex, helping to lead the ARC Ageing and Dementia work in Wessex and nationally. With Jackie's research focus on health systems and the workforce, particularly nursing, she examines the organizational conditions in which health workers are able to deliver responsive, high quality care to older people with complex needs.
Dr Thomas West BSc, MSc, PhD is a Lecturer of Leadership in Healthcare and Occupational Psychology within Health Sciences at University of Southampton. Thomas joined the School of Health Sciences in 2019 as a lecturer and module lead for ‘Leading and managing organisation and systems’ on the MSc Leadership and Management in Health and Social Care course. He gained his PhD from Aston Business School, in the department of Work and Organisational Psychology and has worked as a consultant at Deloitte. His expertise lies in the area of leadership, with a focus on leadership in healthcare and leading across systems. Other areas of expertise include organisational culture, employee engagement, teamwork, and collective leadership.
