Category: News

We have undertaken a wide range of research on tuberculosis, but have expertise in understanding the burden of disease in socially excluded groups and the development and evaluation of interventions to improve their outcomes.

We co-developed and validated a probabilistic data linkage system that can reduce data linkage errors in administrative health data. Using this newly validated methodology we evaluated global tuberculosis screening programmes for people on the move and investigated the cost effectiveness of diagnosing and managing hard to reach individuals with active tuberculosis.

We led the world’s first randomized controlled trial comparing smartphone-based Video Supported Care (VSC) and directly observed treatment (DOT) to improve treatment outcomes for socially excluded groups.

We undertook a cluster randomised controlled trial to evaluate the effectiveness of peer educators on the uptake of mobile X-ray tuberculosis screening at homeless hostels.

Our work has resulted in manuscripts published in The Lancet and The Lancet Infectious Diseases. Rob Aldridge received prizes in two highly competitive awards as a result of this work, including: The Lancet Young Investigator prize at the Academy of Medical Sciences Spring Meeting; and UCL’s Excellence in Health Research prize.

The British National Surveys of Sexual Attitudes and Lifestyles (Natsal) are among the largest and most detailed studies of sexual behaviour to have been undertaken anywhere in the world. Their data have been used extensively to improve understanding of sexual behaviour and to guide sexual and reproductive health policy and practice. Our group is leading on data linkage in Natsal-4 where all Natsal-4 participants will be invited to consent to link their survey and biological data to their health records and other routinely-collected data. Linking these records creates opportunities to expand the range of data we have to answer complex research questions in ways that have not previously been possible.

Homeless Hospital Discharge Schemes that has brought together data on over 100,000 homeless people from across England to understand their health outcomes after discharge from hospital. Our study established that one in three people with experience of homeless admitted to hospital subsequently died from a health condition that our current medical knowledge and technology should have been able to prevent, if help was provided in a timely and appropriate manner. This research received extensive media coverage including an in depth piece on Channel 4 News and this work, and the corresponding economic evaluation has been used as the business case by several NHS trusts as the basis for commissioning intermediate care for people experiencing homelessness and informed the Mayor of London’s health vision for London.