Professor Steven
Ersser, Dean
Welcome to the first
Annual Report of the Faculty of Health & Social Care. I cannot believe that
over two years have passed since my arrival at Hull. Reading this report I am
proud to be Dean of a Faculty whose staff and students have excelled in
research and education and have embraced transformational change to prepare us
for the challenges of the future. Our staff and students have excelled in many
areas and these are illustrated through a wide range of awards and
appointments.
We have welcomed new
members of academic staff from varied clinical, academic and professional
support backgrounds, including our expanded professoriate including Professors Galvin,
Hayter and Watson, all of whom contribute to the leadership of the Faculty. Our latest addition to the senior team is Dr
Carolyn Macintosh-Franklin from Liverpool, who has taken up the post of
Associate Dean, Learning, Teaching & Quality. We also welcome new Visiting Faculty,
including Honorary Professor Esme Moniz-Cooke, who is an international scholar
in the field of dementia research.
The Faculty has
undergone a major restructure with four new Departments including two new Heads
(Professors Hayter and Jomeen), these are: - the Department of Nursing;
Midwifery & Child Health; Psychological Health & Wellbeing and Health
Technology and Perioperative Practice. Psychological Health brings together for
the first time our clinical psychologists with academic staff in the mental
health and learning disability nursing fields to promote interdisciplinary opportunities.
We are also delighted to welcome the integration of our colleagues on the Scarborough
campus who are within the Centre for Health Care Studies, led by Jane Baxter.
A key part of our
development strategy is to look outward and engage with and learn from not only
our vibrant region but also colleagues internationally. We have been developing
our regional activity by working closely with our NHS partners and Health
Education England to drive up standards though innovation; this has been led by
Sue Beacock, our Associate Dean (External Engagement). One exciting area of curriculum
development is in the area of advanced practice where health professionals such
as nurses prepare to lead and develop new services, often challenging
traditional health care role boundaries to promote better access to health
care.
On the national stage Dr
Peter Draper has been recognised with National Teaching Fellowship by the
Higher Educational Academy and Professor Watson has been invited to lead the
new Lancet Commission on Nursing. Another highlight has been our strong Operating
Department Practice team who have had a highly successful and commended
validation of a new BSc ODP degree, one of the first in the country to prepare
ODPs at degree to support the future development of perioperative care.
Further afield we have significantly
expanded our international activity welcoming many students and staff that have
visited and enriched our academic community. Our visits are promoting
collaboration and the sharing of ideas with countries in most of the continents
of the world. We recognise that health care development, research and education
are global activities and the need to develop our work through examining other
cultures.
Through our new
Research Development Groups we are building research teams in areas addressing
key health problems, the challenge of supporting the wellbeing of those living
with long-term conditions, addressing major societal challenges in the field of
sexual and maternal health and investigating new approaches to embracing new
health technologies and their application to the care. Our research programme
is increasingly interdisciplinary. This wok has been led by our Associate Dean,
Professor Julie Jomeen and our group leads.
An illustration of our
developing scholarly activity is the substantial growth in the number and
quality of publications by staff; some of these are illustrated in this report.
The Faculty is also proud to host the Journal
of Advanced Nursing through the work of its editors Professor Watson and
Hayter, which is just one of many journals the faculty is engaged with.
This is an exciting
period in not only the history of the Faculty but also the University of Hull,
its city and the wider region. It has just been announced that the University
will be making a major investment in the ‘Health Hub’, which will involve the
development of the health and medical facilities on the western campus at Hull,
including of our own academic facilities, especially in our clinical skills
facilities and the integration of our clinical psychology staff. We will also
have an active presence within the new cross Faculty interdisciplinary research
areas within the new Hull-York Medical School building. This is an addition to the major
transformation of the Brynmor-Jones library which completes its redevelopment
this summer. Furthermore, as members of the city of Hull, we are delighted to
be recognised as the UK City of Culture in 2017, where we will play our part in
highlighting and investigating the connection between the arts and health care.
Our Faculty is trying
to reach out to a wider community of health academics and health providers
through our rapidly developing blog which, in its first year has had over 10,000
visits. This report complements our web and social media providing another valuable
opportunity to connect with and share some of news with our partners, colleagues
and supporters to offer only some illustrations of work and development. We
hope it will provide additional opportunities to connect with our Faculty and
offer new insights into how we are developing and playing our part in health
care research and education.
Finally, I would like
to take this opportunity to thank all those who have supported the Faculty in
its work over the last few years and hope that we can continue to work together
in supporting the development of health care near and far through our growing academic
health care community.
