Case study: Research is critical to care - Philippa's story

Research is Philippa Rafferty’s passion and she believes it is “critical” to shaping healthcare in the NHS.

Philippa, a Research Midwife at The Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust (RWT), has been involved in research for two years and has already seen its value.

She is currently working on four studies – Giant Panda, CAPE, SNAP-3 and PANDA WS3 and specialises in Obstetrics and Maternity.

“Research is critical to all the care we provide in the NHS,” said Philippa. “As healthcare professionals the care we deliver is required to be up to date and evidence based.

“The research we do ensures we are evolving as practitioners and continuing to provide the most evidence-based care possible.”

She added: “It underpins all the care we provide. Being involved in research is an exciting and wonderful opportunity to take part in the behind-the-scenes work done.”

Giant PANDA –short for Pregnancy ANtihypertensive Drugs: which Agent is best, aims to compare two medications to see
which one is best for pregnant women with high blood pressure and their babies.

CAPE or Calcium supplementation for women At high-risk of Pre-Eclampsia aims to find out whether taking calcium supplements alongside usual antenatal care reduces the risk of women developing pre-eclampsia (high blood pressure
during pregnancy and after labour).

Smoking Nicotine And Pregnancy Trial (SNAP-3) is testing whether Nicotine Replacement Therapy in new ways, can make it more likely for pregnant women to stop smoking.

PANDA or Primary prevention of maternal ANaemia to avoid preterm Delivery and other Adverse outcomes, aims to evaluate the clinical and cost effectiveness of a primary prevention strategy for iron deficiency anaemia in pregnancy with an optimised low dose oral iron supplementation intervention.