health research systems

Since finishing my PhD, I have worked in the Faculty of Life Sciences and Medicine at King’s College London.  Funded by the National Institute for Health Research Biomedical Research Centre at Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust and King’s College London, I examine the transformation of the NHS as it moves from an organisation that provides free at the point of delivery care, to one that also has a research focus and agenda. I’m particularly interested in the practices of involving patients in health research, digital health and using routine health records as research data. More recently, I have also focused on the broader political economy of the NHS and how research practices fit into wider discussions of assetisation and privatisation.

With Matthias Wienroth (Northumbria University) and Christopher McKevitt (King’s College London), I co-edit a Special Collection for the journal Humanities and Social Science Communications (formerly Palgrave Communications). Entitled, ‘Conceptualising Health Research Participation in the Era of Big Data,’ this Special Collection explores two broad questions:

  • How is the health research participant constituted, valued and assetised in the era of big data?
  • What are the implications of this for health research practices and/or policy making?

This growing Special Collection can be found here. New submissions are welcome until the end of May 2022. The formal call for papers can be found here.

With Clémence Pinel (University of Copenhagen) and Rachel Faulkner-Gurstein (King’s College London), I am also editing a Special Issue of the journal Science, Technology, & Human Values entitled, ‘The Hidden Labour of Translation.’ This Special Issue is based on a panel we convened at the Society for the Social Studies of Science Annual Meeting in 2020. Translational research is crucial in the global bioeconomy, the production of medical knowledge and in improving patient care and treatment. While we know a lot about certain actors, this Special Issue draws into stark relief the varied actors and labour practices involved in accomplishing translational research and examines the ways labour is understood, organised and valued in translational medicine. This includes interrogating the hierarchical and gendered arrangements within which various stratified forms of labour take place. We want to question how such structures render some practices invisible and devalued while making others highly privileged, prestigious, and valuable.

publications in this area

For those with university access, the publisher’s link is provided below.  When not published open access, this is followed by a link to the most up-to-date version I can provide without breaching the publisher’s copyright.

Turabi, R., Wyatt, D., Guerra, S., O’Connell, M., Khatun, T., Sageer, S. A., Alhazmi, A., & Sheehan, K. (2023) ‘Barriers and facilitators of weight bearing after hip fracture surgery among older adults. A scoping review’, Osteoporosis International. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00198-023-06735-5.
Open access version (final draft post-refereeing) can be found here.

Stevens, E., Clarke, S.G., Harrington, J., Manthorpe, J., Martin, F.C., Sackley, C., McKevitt, C., Marshall, I.J., Wyatt, D. & Wolfe, C. (2022) ‘The provision of person-centred care for care home residents with stroke: An ethnographic study’, Health and Social Care in the Community. 30(6) e5186-e5195.  https://doi.org/10.1111/hsc.13936
Published open access.

Faulkner-Gurstein, R., Wyatt, D., Cowan, H., Hare, N., Harris, C. & Wolfe, C. (2022) ‘The organization and impacts of clinical research delivery workforce redeployment during the COVID‐19 pandemic: a qualitative case study of one research‐intensive acute hospital trust’, Health Research Policy and Systems. 20(68). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12961-022-00876-5
Published open access.

Faulkner-Gurstein, R. & Wyatt, D. (Joint first author) (2021) ‘Platform NHS: Reconfiguring a public service in the age of digital capitalism’, Science, Technology, & Human Values. https://doi.org/10.1177/01622439211055697
Published open access.

Wyatt D., Faulkner-Gurstein, R., Cowan, H. & Wolfe, C. (2021) Impacts of covid-19 on clinical research in the UK: a multi-method qualitative case study. PLOS ONE. 16(8): e0256871.https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0256871
Published open access.

Beer, N., Riffat, A., Volkmer, B., Wyatt, D., Sheehan, K. J. & Lambe, K. (2021) Patient perspectives of recovery after hip fracture: a systematic review and qualitative synthesis. Disability and Rehabilitation. https://doi.org/10.1080/09638288.2021.1965228
Published open access.

Southwell, J., Potter, C., Wyatt, D., Sadler, E. & Sheehan, K. (2020) ‘Older Adults’ Perceptions of Early Rehabilitation and Recovery after Hip Fracture Surgery – A UK Qualitative Study’, Disability & Rehabilitation.
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/09638288.2020.1783002
Open access version (final draft post-refereeing) can be found here.

Wyatt, D., Lampon, S. & McKevitt, C. (2020) ‘Delivering healthcare’s ‘triple aim’: Electronic Health Records and the health research participant in the UK National Health Service’, Sociology of Health & Illness.
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/1467-9566.13101
Published open access.

Sheehan, K. J., Fitzgerald, L., Hatherley, S., Potter, C., Ayis, S. A. M., Martin, F., Gregson, C. L., Cameron, I., Beaupre, L., Wyatt, D., Milton-Cole, R., DiGiorgio, S. & Sackley, C. M. (2019) ‘Inequity in rehabilitation interventions after hip fracture: a systematic review’, Age and Ageing.
https://academic.oup.com/ageing/article-abstract/48/4/489/5434592?redirectedFrom=fulltext
Open access version (final draft post-refereeing) can be found here.

Wyatt, D., Cook, J. and McKevitt, C. (2018) ‘Participation in the BioResource: Biobanking and value in the changing NHS’ Tecnoscienza 9(2) 89-108. (Special issue on biobanking).
http://www.tecnoscienza.net/index.php/tsj/article/download/358/225
Published open access.

Wyatt, D., Cook, J. and McKevitt, C. (2018) ‘Perceptions of the uses of routine general practice data beyond individual care in England: a qualitative study’ BMJ Open. 8
http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2017-019378
Published open access.

Caffrey, L., Wyatt, D., Fudge, N., Mattingley, H., Williamson, C. and McKevitt, C. (2016) ‘Gender Equity Programmes in Academic Medicine: a Realist Evaluation approach to Athena SWAN processes’ BMJ Open 6.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2016-012090
Published open access.