24 Jan ARC Child Health and Maternity Services Implementation networking event
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24 January 2023
ARC Child Health and Maternity Services Implementation networking event
ARC South London researchers and service users involved in research turned out in strength to present and participate in discussions, at an event organised by the national Children’s Health and Maternity programme, led by Applied Research Collaboration (ARC) South West Peninsula (PenARC) on 5 December 2022.
| 📅 When | Monday 5 December 2022 |
| 👥 Organised by | Children’s Health and Maternity programme, led by ARC South West Peninsula (PenARC) |
| 🌐 Attended by | ARCs and universities from across the country, patient and public representatives, clinical practitioners, and NIHR representatives |
The Children’s Health and Maternity programme is a national NIHR-funded cross-ARC collaboration, aimed at identifying the most effective ways to implement interventions to improve maternity and child health across the country. The event was designed for sharing learning.
ARC South London PPI network members at the national networking event.ARC South London projects featured
Two of the four projects prioritised by the national programme, based on their potential for impact, were from ARC South London:
A study on the implementation of optimal service delivery models for delivering Maternal Mental Health Service multi-disciplinary integrated care and support for women experiencing moderate to complex mental health difficulties. Presented by Dr Abigail Easter and public involvement partner Rachael Buabeng, addressing context-specific barriers to implementation in pilot sites to inform the national roll-out.
A study evaluating models of health-based Independent Domestic Violence Advocates. Presented by Dr Kylee Trevillion and Dr Jill Domoney, both from King’s College London.
Other prioritised studies at the event included BRUSH — optimising toothbrushing programmes in nurseries and schools (a collaborative project with NIHR ARC Yorkshire & Humber, the Bradford Institute of Health Research and the Universities of Leeds and Sheffield) — and ADaPT, a trauma-focused Cognitive Behavioural Therapy pilot implementation project for children in care.
Rachael Buabeng on working with people who use services
“It was an absolute pleasure to present examples of how to engage and work with people who need/use statutory services to a room of amazing researchers, funders and academics as part of the ARC. True engagement is a skill that requires time, patience, effort, skill, flexibility, respect and resource.”
Rachael Buabeng — ARC South London maternity and perinatal mental health advisory group member
Zenab Barry on including underrepresented groups in research
Zenab Barry, ARC South London maternity and perinatal mental health advisory group member, gave a warmly received presentation on how to include underrepresented groups into research during the afternoon’s 10-minute talks.
“It’s always good to advocate the appropriate inclusion of underrepresented groups in research. I have enjoyed sharing my views regarding the importance of belonging, social capital, balance of power, real co-production, fair remuneration and trust. People shouldn’t have to feel that they are merely fitting in, but that they can express themselves as they are and be heard, accepted and respected.”
Zenab Barry — ARC South London maternity and perinatal mental health PPI adviser
“Congratulations to Zenab who had her abstract selected and presented on ‘solutions and strategies to address implementation challenges’. You and Rachael gave truly inspirational talks.”
Dr Abigail Easter — Senior lecturer in maternity and newborn health, King’s College London
“Being part of this networking event was truly inspiring. Reconnecting in person with researchers and PPI members and meeting some of them for the first time after months on Zoom made me feel part of a valuable and supportive community. I was hugely moved by Zenab Barry’s talk on the difference between truly ‘belonging’ and ‘fitting in’ — much food for thought.”
Vita Moltedo — ARC South London maternity and perinatal mental health advisory group member
ARC South London PPI network at the event
There was a focus on patient and public involvement throughout the day, and ARC South London PPI network members took the opportunity to share their insights, achievements and frustrations, including regarding inadequate PPIE infrastructure and funding.
Tania Sutedja, Pippa Norris, Vita Moltedo, Rachael Buabeng and Zenab Barry — ARC South London PPIE Network members — enjoyed the chance to be together face-to-face, a rare opportunity because of the Covid pandemic changing usual ways of working, and hearing maternity and child health research presentations.
Related links
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Patient and public involvement in maternity and perinatal mental health at ARC South London - →
Children’s Health and Maternity programme (PenARC) - →
ESMI-III study page - →
ESMI-II pilot sites report (PDF)
Original source: arc-sl.nihr.ac.uk — NIHR ARC South London legacy content archived May 2026.