NIHR Applied Research Collaboration (ARC) West

Bristol BRC researchers awarded £2.3 million for follow-on research - Bristol Biomedical Research Centre Bristol BRC researchers have been awarded £2.3 million by NIHR to study whether prehabilitation can help frail patients having total hip or knee replacement, following a successful Bristol BRC feasibi...

🎉 Bristol BRC researchers have been awarded £2.3 million for follow-on research!

🧓 The grant from NIHR will allow the researchers to study whether #prehab can help frail patients having total hip or knee replacement

👉 www.bristolbrc.nihr.ac.uk/bristol-brc-...

#BristolBRCimpact

📢 Listen to our own @zoetw.bsky.social on this podcast, talking about how to share research clearly and accessibly 🎙️ 👇

Proyecto piloto en farmacias comunitarias ofrecer Servicio de PrEP:

Se integraron consultas de PrEP en farmacias y se ofrecieron autotests de ITS, VIH y función renal.
Los farmacéuticos informaban, entregaban kits y derivaban a la servicios de salud para prescripción remota.

Man talking to pharmacist in pharmacy

📰News!📰Community pharmacies are a promising site for expanding access to HIV Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP), according to a recent study. This is a highly effective medication can be used to reduce the risk of getting HIV.
More ▶️ tinyurl.com/ysn6kkkh @arc-west.bsky.social @jhorwood.bsky.social

Our pilot study shows community pharmacies are an acceptable setting for #PrEP awareness and referral. Pharmacists successfully initiating PrEP conversations & linking people to remote prescribing. A practical way to expand #HIV prevention access

#STI #STISky 🛟 @nat.org.uk @bhiva.bsky.social

Development and implementation of a pharmacy PrEP awareness-raising and referral pathway: acceptability and feasibility of a UK pilot Objectives To develop and pilot a community pharmacy pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) awareness-raising and referral pathway, informed by a literature review and interviews with pharmacists and communi...

The #PReP pharma project is led by @jhorwood.bsky.social China Harrison @hpruebs.bsky.social @gilead.com and HPRU in Blood Borne and Sexually Transmitted Infections at UCL

Full paper in BMJ Sexually Transmitted Infections sti.bmj.com/content/earl...

Community pharmacies: A new frontier for PrEP access - ARC West Community pharmacies are a “promising site” for expanding access to HIV Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP), according to a recent pilot study led by researchers at NIHR ARC West and NIHR Health Protectio...

Our just published pilot study found community pharmacies are a promising site for expanding access to HIV Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP) - particularly for under-served groups who may not engage with traditional #SexualHealth clinics

#PrEP #HIV #HIVPrevention

arc-w.nihr.ac.uk/community-ph...

Helping people to live and survive co-use of benzodiazepines/z-drugs and opioids: the importance of asking how and why people co-use - Drug Research Network Scotland Helping people to live and survive co-use of benzodiazepines/z-drugs and opioids: the importance of asking how and why people co-use Gabriele Vojt, Joanna Kesten, Jennifer Scott, Hannah Family, on beh...

Helping people to live and survive co-use of benzodiazepines / z-drugs and opioids: the importance of asking how and why people co-use: a new @drnscot.bsky.social blog by Gabriele Vojt, @jokesten.bsky.social Jennifer Scott @hannah-family.bsky.social
#HarmReduction
drns.ac.uk/benzo-blog/

New partnership set to revolutionise data access - southwestsde-nhs-uk The South West Secure Data Environment (SDE) has secured £440k to lead two new projects to demonstrate the potential of the NHS SDE Network.

Introducing the Bristol Research and Innovation Data Engineering (BRIDE) Hub, set to revolutionise access to #Bristol hospital data.

Our new partnership with Bristol NHS Group, @bristoluni.bsky.social @uwebristolofficial.bsky.social @bristolbrc.bsky.social
www.southwestsde.nhs.uk/new-partners...

The NIHR Applied Research Collaborations (ARCs) February 2026 newsletter The national newsletter from across all the NIHR ARCs. In this edition: The first major trial to reduce social media use among healthy adolescents, Continuous care from community-based midwives reduce...

🗞️ Read the February national roundup of top stories from all ARCs across the country:

mailchi.mp/nihr/februar...

Including news, resources, blogs, events, opportunities & much more

📨 Join the newsletter tinyurl.com/ARCsnewsletter

From brain fog to blood pressure – how real life menopause experiences shaped our recent event - ARC West Adele is a long-serving ARC West public contributor, and one of the brains behind our recent ‘Let’s talk about menopause’ event and video. Here she explains why she wanted to make her idea become a re...

"I was one of the people who’d walked away from their career when they didn’t need to"

Public contributor Adele shares her story of how perimenopausal brain fog led her to leave her teaching job, and how she's helping others in a similar position

Read her blog:
arc-w.nihr.ac.uk/from-brain-f...

“Menopause is not a problem to be hidden” - ARC West Joanne Lloyd, one of our public contributors behind our recent Let’s talk about the menopause event, blogs about how the day went for her. I was really pleased to be asked to take part in the Let’s ta...

"Menopause is not a problem to be hidden. It is a shared life stage."

Public contributor Joanne Lloyd blogs about our recent 'Let's talk about the menopause' event. 🌸

arc-w.nihr.ac.uk/menopause-is...

#Menopause #WomensHealth #HealthEquity #ARCWest

2026: Applications open for NIHR post-doctoral fellowships | Centre for Academic Primary Care | University of Bristol

Applications are now open for @nihrspcr.bsky.social funded primary care research post-doctoral fellowships to start in October 2026.

The 24-month fellowships can be taken up at any of the 9 NIHR School for Primary Care Research institutions, including here at Bristol.

Details: tinyurl.com/3nc9abzs

👀 Looking for a postdoctoral #fellowship? 👇

💡 Interested in qualitative research methods?

👀 Read our recent paper on how conducting an #ethnography can help understand context when designing public health interventions 🏃‍♂️

👉 Read the paper: bit.ly/4boXM8W
👉 Read more about our project: arc-w.nihr.ac.uk/passport-cre...

The NIHR ARC West newsletter - January edition In this edition: How pupils feel about school behaviour policies; Millions could be unlocked through better implementation of evidence; Making space for art in research; Plus much more

📮Our first email newsletter of 2026 is out today!

In this edition: In this edition: How pupils feel about school behaviour policies; Millions could be unlocked through better implementation of evidence; Making space for art in research

➕Plus much more.

mailchi.mp/nihr/nihr-ar...

Introduction to implementation economics - Health Innovation West of England 11/02/2026 @ 12:00 pm - 1:00 pm -

📢 Upcoming webinar: Introduction to implementation economics!

Hosted by @healthinnowest.bsky.social

❓Looking to deepen your understanding of economic evaluation in real-world healthcare innovation?

🗓️ 11 Feb, 12-1pm

➡️ Register: www.healthinnowest.net/event/introd...

Welcome! You are invited to join a webinar: NIHR Webinar Series - 11 - How to Develop a PPI Group. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email about joining the webinar. What is the webinar series about? Patient and public involvement is a prerequisite for all research funded by NIHR. It can enhance the relevance and quality of research and help build trust in the res...

📣 Are you a researcher? Interested in #PPIE?

👀 Watch the NIHR PPI webinar: How to develop a PPI group
🗓️ 18 Feb, 10.30am

Find out about the Bristol-based PPI group, working as part of the #HeartSurgery #prehabilitation research team

👉 Register: bit.ly/4t31evY

YouTube video by NIHR ARC West What do women wish they’d known about the menopause?

Check out the highlights and hear from the attendees in our video from the day
youtu.be/rI4QwK4sCPc?...

What do women wish they’d known about the menopause? - ARC West The things women wish they’d known about the menopause are explored in a new video, inspired by our recent ‘Let’s talk about the menopause’ event. The idea for the event came from a group of our publi...

❓What do you wish you’d known about the menopause?

We brought 50 women together at a Bristol community centre to share evidence-based information on HRT, nutrition and more.

🗞️Find out more about the event in our news story

arc-w.nihr.ac.uk/what-do-wome...

#PublicHealth #MenopauseAwareness

street tablets

📰News!📰Understanding street tablet users’ perspectives in an area with many drug-related deaths.
“Collaborating with peer researchers was integral to engaging this high-risk & underrepresented population of people who use drugs" More➡️ tinyurl.com/34sywrc7 @arc-west.bsky.social @jokesten.bsky.social

Join this free online meeting to hear about our research:

➡️ #HIV & Hepatitis Awareness for Tattoo & Piercing Artists @cdodds.bsky.social
➡️ Tackling HIV inequities with African and Caribbean communities @commonambitionbs.bsky.social
➡️ #PrEP pharmacy pilot to improve HIV prevention

#STI #STISky 🛟

2026: Connecting communities and researchers to build lasting relationships for better | Centre for Academic Primary Care | University of Bristol

Coming up: 📢Three FREE community drop-in events connecting communities & researchers for better health:

📆20 Jan - Bristol
📆29 Jan - Weston-super-Mare
📆31 Jan - Kingswood

Each event offers:

☑️free basic health checks
☑️friendly conversations
☑️feedback from Health Ambassadors

🔗 tinyurl.com/3ccxmptm

Lovely work from the #PReCePT programme on how perinatal prevention work saves money as well as benefitting patients @karenluyt.bsky.social @frankdv.bsky.social @rthonwesstreeting.bsky.social

Transforming diabetes research: South West SDE leads new projects - southwestsde-nhs-uk The South West Secure Data Environment (SDE) has secured £440k to lead two new projects to demonstrate the potential of the NHS SDE Network.

🚀 Good news for data-enabled health research in our region!

💷We have secured £440k to lead 2 NHS SDE Network driver projects, including a national diabetes core dataset and streamlining SDE workflows using automation & AI.

#HealthData #DiabetesResearch #SDE

www.southwestsde.nhs.uk/transforming...

Millions in savings could be unlocked through better implementation of evidence-based treatments - ARC West Millions of pounds’ worth of savings and health benefits are left unrealised in the NHS, a new study has shown. Published in Frontiers in Health Services, the paper demonstrates how health systems cou...

Millions of pounds’ worth of savings and health benefits are left unrealised in the NHS, our new study shows. The paper demonstrates how health systems could unlock huge benefits by implementing evidence-based treatments more effectively, using PReCePT as an example.
arc-w.nihr.ac.uk/millions-in-...

Understanding street tablet users’ perspectives in an area with many drug-related deaths - ARC West A new study presents the perspectives of people who use street tablets in Middlesborough, an area with one of the highest rates of drug-related harm and death in the UK. A peer researcher with past ex...

🆕 New study published!
💊 Understanding street tablet users’ perspectives in an area with many drug-related deaths

🗨️ A peer researcher engaged with people at high risk of harm from drugs to seek their perspectives

👉 arc-w.nihr.ac.uk/understandin...

@jokesten.bsky.social @hpruebs.bsky.social

Working well and together: Reflections of a support group for more effective coproduction research - ARC West In this blog, members of the  Developing a co-production community of practice project reflect on how they built trust and developed their relationships. When we started working together, we didn’t kn...

Trust and relationships are core to working well together across organisational and sector boundaries.

Members of our project to develop a co-production community of practice reflect on how they built trust and developed their relationships to work better together.
arc-w.nihr.ac.uk/working-well...

A group of people meeting each other

📢Blog time!📢Great new blog on our website by Dr Helen Baxter @arc-west.bsky.social, reviewed by our own HM expert
@drclarethomas.bsky.social - Conversations about knowledge mobilisation with public contributors.
Read more➡️ tinyurl.com/9ccz6tra @bristoluni.bsky.social

Great to see our #PrEP pharmacy pilot inform @tht.org.uk ‬
report. Prep via pharmacies could make #HIV prevention more equitable, less stigmatized & more embedded in people’s everyday lives

Read about our research ➡️ arc-w.nihr.ac.uk/research/pro...

@arc-west.bsky.social @capcbristol.bsky.social