Holly Lovell - KHPeople

Please introduce yourself and your role

I am a midwife by trade, and I joined the maternity research delivery team at Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust (GSTT) in 2016.

In 2023, I was successful in applying for a National Institute for Health and Care Research Doctoral Clinical Academic fellowship and have been undertaking my PhD since. I was recently appointed as joint Head of Nursing for ACORN – A Centre of Research for Nurses and Midwives in Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS FT, supporting capacity building for nurse and midwife led research. I do this role two days a week whilst completing my PhD the other three days. 

What issue or area does your work focus on and how does it affect patients?

My PhD focuses on improving the inclusion and representation of women from global majority groups in maternity research. We have a large body of evidence ethnic inequalities in maternity care, particularly with significantly higher maternal and neonatal mortality rate for Black and Asian women. Although the causes are multifactorial, part of the picture in addressing these inequalities is through further research. However, we know these groups are often under-represented in clinical research. This means evidence produced may not be relevant to ethnically minoritised groups, which will further exacerbate inequalities. 

Can you introduce us to your topic and what it aims to achieve?

My research aims to produce recommendations to support inclusive recruitment to perinatal research.

To do this, I am using a participatory approach, working with a wonderful group of peer researchers, including eight women from diverse ethnic backgrounds. They have been actively involved since the beginning of the research and have ensured it is relevant and culturally sensitive. We have conducted interviews and focus groups with women, research midwives, researchers, and clinical staff to identify barriers and facilitators to inclusive perinatal research. We then held two workshops bringing all the groups together to discuss solutions.

We are currently analysing this data with the hope of informing future recommendations.

How are you improving outcomes for patients?

We hope our recommendations will lead to improved inclusive recruitment to perinatal research. In supporting representative research. This project will be part of a bigger picture in addressing the ethnic inequalities in maternity care. 

What partners do you work with and how can working in partnership make a difference for your service and patients?

I’m very fortunate to have a brilliant manager at St Thomas’ Hospital who has supported me in pursuing a clinical academic career. Having that support makes all the difference in a profession that is still developing clear pathways for this kind of work. Utilising support from ACORN, at Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS FT and King’s Clinical Academic Training Office (KCATO) has also provided me important peer support and access to other developmental opportunities. 

I conduct my research primarily in Leeds and east London. However, I have applied for funding to pilot recommendations, once completed at Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS FT. I hope this will impact our service users locally and will continue to support the conversation around how we can bolster inclusive research across King’s Health Partners. 

Find out more about the work of KHP Women and Children's Health.