Support and enabling health research in local authority: an exploratory study (SERLA)

Background to the research: Since 2013, local authorities have been responsible for improving local population health. Local authority public health teams shape local services to tackle health inequalities and improve wellbeing. This requires reliable and timely evidence to inform service provision to meet the needs of local populations. It is recommended that researchers and community practitioners work together on research projects to tackle public health challenges. Since local authorities are responsible for delivering essential public services, they could become more involved in working jointly on research projects. At the present time, several factors such as limited time, expertise and money prevents good quality local authority public health research. The National Institute for Health Research provides substantial amounts of funding to support NHS research activity and now wants to build a research system to support local authority research activity. Currently there is a gap in understanding how best to achieve this. To fill this gap our study will use the long-term challenge of childhood obesity and the current coronavirus crisis as examples of how one local authority (Southampton City Council - termed Southampton local authority hereafter) responds to major public health issues, including the resources needed to produce good quality evidence to respond to local community needs. Design and methods: Qualitative methods will be used to answer our study aims. We will interview a range of staff working across departments in Southampton local authority and community members. An interview guide will be developed to allow participants to reflect on their responses in tackling public health issues. This considers their views on the enablers and barriers for local authority research, the use of research evidence in daily practice, and recommendations for a local authority focused research system. A separate interview guide will be used for community members to explore current engagement and involvement with local authority services. We will invite potential participants by email and explain the study purpose and what will happen during the interview. Due to the coronavirus crisis and the governments social distancing rules our interviews will be conducted using internet platforms such as Microsoft Teams or by telephone. Interviews will take place during September and October 2020, and will be audio recorded, transcribed word for word and coded for analysis. Patient and public involvement and engagement (PPIE): Understanding how PPIE can be integrated within a sustainable research system is crucial to this proposal and we will therefore include participants from the community in our interviews. Additionally, we will include members of the local community in all aspects of this work from planning to delivery. PPIE representatives will work with the research team to provide insights into emerging themes from the interviews, and co-design recommendations for PPIE within a local authority environment. Dissemination: A written report will be submitted to the project funders. The local authority will share the report with colleagues across the country and it will be available on the internet for public viewing. We will hold a stakeholder event and attend conferences to share what we have learned from Southampton local authority. We will also liaise and share our findings with regional and national Public Policy agencies.