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Professor Alison Richardson BN (Hons), MSc, PhD, PgDipEd, RNT

Clinical Professor in Cancer Nursing and End of Life Care

Alison is Clinical Professor of Cancer Nursing and End of Life Care at the University of Southampton and University Hospital Southampton NHS Foundation Trust. She has a clinical academic appointment, which means she combines clinical practice and research. Her research focuses on understanding and responding to the needs of people affected by cancer and other life limiting illnesses. Alison is also an NIHR Senior Investigator.

In October 2019 she became Director of NIHR ARC Wessex. Learn more here.

Alison is also Director of the Southampton Academy of Research (SoAR). SoAR supports the career development of Southampton's health-related research workforce, and works across the Faculty of Medicine, School of Health Sciences and University Hospital Southampton.

Find out more here.

Understanding the experiences of patients and their families affected by cancer and other life limiting conditions is central to ensuring the care we deliver is fit for purpose.

Current role

Development and management of research programme in cancer, palliative and end of life care
Providing leadership to nurse, midwife and allied health professional clinical academic staff at Southampton General Hospital
Strategic development of cancer and palliative nursing services at Southampton General Hospital

Advisory group membership

2020- to date Invited member of Scientific Advisory Board, Karolinska Comprehensive Cancer Centre

2014 – 2015 Invited by Minister of Health to review Irish Cancer Strategy

2017 - to date Member of Specialist Nursing Clinical Practice Steering Group, sub group of Cancer Workforce Taskforce, Health Education England & NHS England

2011 – 2011- to date Member of the Council of Deans of Health Healthcare Professionals Clinical Academic Roles and Career Pathways Implementation Network (CARIN)

2016 – 2019 Specialist Advisor on Clinical Academic Careers in Nursing to Director of Nursing, Health Education England

Research

Publications

Teaching

Contact

Research interests

Understanding the experiences of people affected by cancer, life limiting illness and who are at the end of life; Nurse-led interventions for issues and problems confronted by patients with cancer and their families (in particular cancer-related fatigue); the contribution of nurses to achieving effective, patient-centred cancer, palliative and end of life care; mixed method evaluations of cancer and palliative care services; the emotional well-being of cancer, palliative and end of life care workforce; multi-disciplinary teamwork in cancer care.

Integrated/Combined research projects list

Applied Research Collaboration: Wessex. Funded by National Institute of Health Research UNDERWAY Find out more

Developing an outreach model from acute cancer nursing teams to support primary and community care services to address the need of cancer patients in Wessex and Thames Valley. Funded by Health Education England (Williams, F., Winter, J., Brodie, H., Richardson, A., Foster, C.) UNDERWAY

Supported self-management in people living with cancer that cannot be cured: understanding and characterising its value and role. Funded by Macmillan Cancer Support (Calman, L., Foster, C., Richardson, A., Berman, R., Restorick-Banks, S., Wagland, R., Demain, S .) UNDERWAY

Accessing medicines at end-of-life: a multi-stakeholder, mixed method evaluation of service provision. Funded by National Institute for Health Research Health Services & Delivery Research Programme (Latter, S., Bennett, M., Richardson, A., Blenkinsopp, A., Campling, N., Ewings, S, Meads, D., Santer, M.) UNDERWAY

Cancer: Life Affirming Survivorship support in Primary care (CLASP) Programme. National Institute for Health Research Programme Grants for Applied Research (Little, P., Yardley, P., Geraghty, A., Stuart, B., Foster, C., Leydon, G., Yao, L., Rathod, S., Richardson, A., Wilkinson, C., Boehning, D., Eccles, D., Watson, E, Lewith, G., White, P., Neal, R.) UNDERWAY

Methylphenidate versus placebo for fatigue in advanced cancer (MePFAC). Funded by National Institute of Health Research Health Technology Assessment Programme (Stone, P., Minton, O., Richardson, A., Hunter, R., Freemantle, M., King, M.) UNDERWAY

HORIZONS programme: Survivorship experiences’ and health outcomes in people with cancer. Funded by Macmillan Cancer Support (Foster, C., Calman, L., Haviland, J., Corner, J, May, C., Rogers, A., Richardson, A., Smith, P.) UNDERWAY Read about it here

Development and testing of the national cancer quality of life metric. Funded by NHS England (Richardson, A., Keen, A.) COMPLETE

Access to nurse specialists and key workers. Funded by NHS England (Williams, F., Winter, J., Brodie, H., Richardson, A., Foster, C.) COMPLETE

Survey of healthcare professionals: enablers and barriers to pursuing a clinical research career. Funded by Health Education England & National Institute of Health Research (Richardson, A.) COMPLETE

HEE NIHR Cross funder NMAHP final full report April 2019

Cross Funder Survey Summary Document April 2019

Wessex CLAHRC. Theme 6 Minimally disruptive healthcare: complex pathways, patient experience and organisational behaviour National Institute for Health Research (May, C., Richardson A) Read more here COMPLETE

Community-based volunteer-led support for family caregivers caring for a relative or friend with palliative and/or end-life care needs at home (Co-Care). Funded by National Institute for Health Research Programme Development Grant (Corner, J Bailey, C., Richardson, A., Bowling, A., May, C., Hankins, M., Hulme, C., Richardson, H., Parker, A., Cronin, P., Duke, S., Geraghty, A Moore, M., McColl, E.) COMPLETE

Supporting carers providing end of life care during the transition from hospital to their family member’s preferred place of care. A participatory learning and action research study. Funded by National Institute for Health Research School for Social Care Research (Duke, S., Richardson, A., May, C., Lunt, N., Firth, P., Lund, S.) COMPLETE

Development, implementation and evaluation of the True NTH Supported Self-Management and Follow-Up Care Programme. Funded by Movember in partnership with Prostate Cancer UK (Richardson, A.) COMPLETE Find out more

Feasibility of establishing a cohort of lung cancer patients treated with curative intent radiotherapy to understand the recovery of health and wellbeing following treatment. Funded by Roy Castle Lung Foundation (Foster, C., Calman, L., Richardson, A., Smith, P., Baird, J., Edwards, J., Faivre-Finn, C.) COMPLETE

Feasibility of establishing a cohort of lung cancer patients treated with curative intent to gather patient reported outcomes. Funded by Roy Castle Lung Foundation (Foster, C., Calman, L., Smith, P., Beaver, K., Baird, J., Edwards, J., Richardson, A.) COMPLETE Read details here

Self-management of pain relief, nausea and constipation for patients approaching the end of life. Funded by National Institute for Health Research Health Technology Assessment Programme (Bennett, M., Closs, J., Bekker, H., Meads, D., Blenkinsopp, A.,Flemming, K., Latter, S., Richardson, A., Coppock, S., Carder,P.,Farrin, A., Morley, S., Gallagher, J.,) COMPLETE Read final report here

PROACTIVE: Prostate cancer support intervention for managing active surveillance: multi-centre feasibility trial. Funded by Prostate Cancer UK (Lewith, G., Watts, S., Richardson, A., Leydon, G., Brindle, L., Arden-Close, E., Hughes, S., Moore, C., Carballo, L., Plant, H., Birch, B., Stuart, B., Yao, L, Bacon, R.) COMPLETE

An investigation about transferring patients in critical care home to die: experiences, attitudes, population characteristics and practice Marie Curie Cancer Care (Richardson, A., Coombs, M., Addington-Hall, J., Angus, C., Davis, C., Long-Sutehall,T., Threlfall, A., ) COMPLETE

A phase I-II feasibility trial of Cancer Carer Medicines Management (CCMM): an educational intervention for carer management of pain medication in cancer patients at end of life. Funded by Dimbleby Marie Curie Cancer Care (Latter, S., Hopkinson, J., Richardson, A., Duke, S., Anstey, S., Bennett, M., Smith. P., May, C.) COMPLETE

An investigation into the use of the EORTC Core instrument and the possible need of a module for the assessment of Health Related Quality of Life in Adolescents and Young Adults (AYA) with cancer Funded by EORTC. (Darlington, A-S., Galalae, R., Johnson, C., Czimbalmos,A., Chie,W., Efficace, F., Bonnetain, F., Flechtner, H., Hall, G., Hooker, L., Richardson, A..) COMPLETE

The experience of patients with Cancer of Unknown Primary: Analysis from England’s national Cancer Patient Experience Survey programme. Cancer Australia and CUP Foundation (Schofield, P., Ratchford, D., Mileshkin,L., Bowtell, D., Gough, K., Richardson, A., Wagland, R., Wasan, H., Symons, J., Tatt, M.) COMPLETE

Understanding and perceptions of mindfulness-based interventions and development of an adapted mindfulness intervention for breast cancer patients. Funded by Breast Cancer Campaign. (Eyles, C., Copson, E., Foster, C., Richardson, A., Hoffman, C., Lewith, G., Fenlon, D., Leydon, G., Geraghty, A., Watts, S., Davies, G., Turner, L.) COMPLETE

Affiliate research groups

Cancer Survivorship and End of Life Care, Complex Health Care Needs

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Articles

Book Chapters

Ramirez, A., Jamieson, L., Teasdale, E., & Richardson, A. (2009). The stress of professional caregivers. In G. Hanks, N. I. Cherney, N. A. Christakis, M. Fallon, S. Kaasa, & R. K. Portenoy (Eds.), Oxford Textbook of Palliative Medicine. 4th Edition Oxford University Press (Churchill Livingstone).
Richardson, A. (2004). A critical appraisal of the factors associated with fatigue. In J. Armes, M. Krishnasamy, & I. Higginson (Eds.), Fatigue in Cancer (pp. 29-50). Oxford University Press.
Richardson, A., Di Giulio, P., & Waddell, D. (2000). Nursing research in cancer care. In N. Kearney, A. Richardson, & P. Di Giulio (Eds.), Cancer Nursing Practice: A Textbook for the Specialist Nurse (pp. 107-134). Elsevier Harcourt Brace.
Richardson, A. (1997). Cancer pain and its management. In V. N. Thomas (Ed.), Pain: Its Nature and Management (pp. 194-219). Elsevier Balliere Tindall.
Richardson, A. (1995). The pattern of fatigue in patients receiving chemotherapy. In A. Richardson, & J. Wilson-Barnett (Eds.), Nursing Research in Cancer Care (pp. 225-245). Scutari Press.

Conferences

Reports

Coombs, M. A., Darlington, A-S., Long-Sutehall, T., & Richardson, A. (2014). An investigation about transferring patients in critical care home to die: experiences, attitudes, population characteristics and practice. Executive summary of final report. University of Southampton.
Griffiths, P., Armes, J., Finnegan-John, J., Wagland, R., Richardson, A., & Corner, J. (2011). Quality in cancer care: nurse sensitive indicators for ambulatory chemotherapy. University of Southampton.
Hunt, K. J., Shlomo, N., Richardson, A., & Addington-Hall, J. (2011). VOICES redesign and testing to inform a national end of life care survey. University of Southampton.
Latter, S., Richardson, A., & Fader, M. (2010). Clinical academic role descriptors: research. University of Southampton.
Richardson, A., Addington-Hall, J., Stark, D., Foster, C., Amir, Z., & Sharpe, M. (2009). Determining research priorities for cancer survivorship: consultation and evidence review. National Cancer Survivorship Initiative.
Griffiths, P., Richardson, A., & Blackwell, R. (2009). Nurse sensitive outcomes and indicators in ambulatory chemotherapy. National Nursing Research Unit.
Brown, V., Cotterell, P., Sitzia, J., Richardson, A., Kelley, K., & Willers, R. (2006). Evaluation of a collaborative model for consumer research panels in cancer research networks. Macmillan Cancer Support.
Sitzia, J., Cotterell, P., & Richardson, A. (2004). Formative evaluation of the cancer partnership project. Macmillan Cancer Relief and the Department of Health.

Review

Corbett, T., Cummings, A., Calman, L., Farrington, N., Fenerty, V., Foster, C., Richardson, A., Wiseman, T., & Bridges, J. (2020). Self‐management in older people living with cancer and multi‐morbidity: A systematic review and synthesis of qualitative studies. Psycho-Oncology, 29(10), 1452-1463. https://doi.org/10.1002/pon.5453

Working Paper

Latter, S., Richardson, A., Fader, M., Coombs, M. A., Atherton, L., Bailey, C., Chable, R., Diggins, J., Duke, S., Green, S., Kitsell, F., Lewis, A., Prieto, J., Rankin, S., Stephenson, J., & Westbury, J. (2011). Clinical academic career pathway for nursing and allied health professionals: clinical academic role descriptors. University of Southampton.

Nurse-led symptom care in cancer, palliative and end of life care
Organisation and management of cancer nursing services
Inform strategic development of cancer, palliative and end of life care education provision
Teaching and research supervision MRes, MSc and Doctoral training programmes

Professor Alison Richardson
Southampton General Hospital Mailpoint 11 Tremona Road Southampton SO16 6YD Room No. SAB/AA101 Tel: 02381208494 OR University of Southampton Health Sciences Building 67 Highfield Southampton SO17 1BJ

Room Number: SGH/AA102/MP11

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