About

I am a senior research active member of academic teaching staff at Sheffield Hallam University (SHU). I have extensive expertise in primary care workforce education and development. My research profile in primary care is underpinned through the production of nationally significant evaluative research and partnership working with both the public sector and third sector organisations. My research focuses upon three key areas of primary care:

• The development of new roles and new ways of working
• Models of workforce organisation 
• The impact of education and training on career development

I have a successful track record of securing funding from both NHS England and NIHR, and I am currently working on a SHU-led, 5-year, £4.4 million NIHR-funded project, which is looking at the organisation of the Primary Care workforce in areas of social deprivation.

I work extensively with colleagues throughout the South Yorkshire region, including the South Yorkshire Integrated Care Board (SY ICB), and I am the SHU lead for the partnership with the South Yorkshire Primary Care Education and Training hub. This strategic partnership has yielded a number of important projects and enables me to work with and support primary care colleagues within the region.  As part of the development of a primary care career pathway, we are currently co-delivering a national ‘introduction to primary care’ module, which is funded by NHS England.

I am also working on the development of a regional Primary Care Innovation Centre. Funded through NHS England. In addition to developing the innovation centre, this project is looking at the use of alternative methods of content delivery, such as VR, AI and 360-degree filming for training health professionals in the complex skills required for primary care in the 21st century.

I am an expert on workforce development, and write regularly for ‘The Conversation’ on these topics. I am also a reviewer for a number of primary care journals.

Teaching

School of Health and Social Care

College of Health, Wellbeing and Life Sciences

Relevant projects:

Development of a primary care career pathway for GP nurses. This has included the delivery of an introductory pre-registration module for UG students funded by NHS England, through to a primary care pathway for Advanced Practitioners. The aim of the project is to develop a sustainable career pathway for GP nurses, and to improve recruitment and retention of GP staff.

See the following publications for details:

Lewis, R. (2024). Developing a ‘national module’ for nurses considering a career in general practice: addressing the workforce crisis in primary care. Practice Nursing, 35(4), 136-139. doi:10.12968/pnur.2024.35.4.136
Lewis, R. (2024). General practice is in crisis in the UK – and it’s failing the people who need it most. The Conversation Trust (UK) Limited. Retrieved from https://theconversation.com/general-practice-is-in-crisis-in-the-uk-and-its-failing-the-people-who-need-it-most-224427
Lewis, R. (2023). An Independent Evaluation of Phase One of the South Yorkshire Primary Care Innovation centre https://shura.shu.ac.uk/id/eprint/33401 
Lewis, R. (2023). General practice nurse trainees’ perspectives on general practice nursing as a career choice: qualitative findings from a vocational training scheme in the United Kingdom (UK). BMC Primary Care, 24(1). doi:10.1186/s12875-023-02165-8

Subject area:

• Advanced Practice
• Primary Care

Courses taught: MSc. Advancing Clinical Practice

Modules taught: Contemporary Issues in Advancing Practice

Research

• Health Research Institute

Current research:

I am a senior member of the CARe health and social care workforce research group. I have extensive expertise in the area of primary care workforce education and role development. Most recently, I have a key role in a SHU-led national research partnership. This £4.4 million project is funded through the NIHR HSD&R programme 'AHP Workforce Research Partnership: supporting a sustainable and effective AHP workforce in rural and coastal regions, and deprived urban areas'. The programme is due to start in March 2025 and will last for 5 years.

Research projects that I have recently completed include:

• Evaluation of the South Yorkshire Workforce Development Hub (2023)
• Evaluation of the South Yorkshire GPN Training Programme (2022)
• Evaluation of the Roald Dahl Specialist Nurse role (2021)

Recent Publications:

Lewis, R. (2024). Developing a ‘national module’ for nurses considering a career in general practice: addressing the workforce crisis in primary care. Practice Nursing, 35(4), 136-139. doi:10.12968/pnur.2024.35.4.136
Lewis, R. (2024). General practice is in crisis in the UK – and it’s failing the people who need it most. The Conversation Trust (UK) Limited. Retrieved from https://theconversation.com/general-practice-is-in-crisis-in-the-uk-and-its-failing-the-people-who-need-it-most-224427
Makey, L., Lewis, R., Ashmore, R., & Wigfield, A. (2024). Loneliness and the COVID-19 pandemic: implications for practice. British Journal of Nursing, 33(3), 110-114. doi:10.12968/bjon.2024.33.3.110
Lewis, R. (2023). An Independent Evaluation of Phase One of the South Yorkshire Primary Care Innovation centre https://shura.shu.ac.uk/id/eprint/33401
Lewis, R. (2023). General practice nurse trainees’ perspectives on general practice nursing as a career choice: qualitative findings from a vocational training scheme in the United Kingdom (UK). BMC Primary Care, 24(1). doi:10.1186/s12875-023-02165-8
Lewis, R. (2023). Lucy Letby: child murder case highlights need to regulate managers and improve whistleblowing procedures. The Conversation. Retrieved from https://theconversation.com/lucy-letby-child-murder-case-highlights-need-to-regulate-managers-and-improve-whistleblowing-procedures-212077
Nightingale, J., Ali, N., Lewis, R., Ibbotson, R., Monks, H., Urquhart-Kelly, T., & Saunders, L. (2023). Transforming nursing care for children with serious long-term conditions: A mixed methods exploration of the impact of Roald Dahl Specialist Nurses in the United Kingdom.. Journal of Pediatric Nursing, 70, 90-102. doi:10.1016/j.pedn.2023.02.004
Lewis, R. (2022). The evolution of advanced nursing practice: gender, identity, power and patriarchy. Nursing Inquiry. doi:10.1111/nin.12489

Featured research:

Lewis, R. (2023) An Independent Evaluation of Phase One of the South Yorkshire Primary Care Innovation centre. This is an NHS England-funded project looking at the development of a regional education and training facility for primary care staff. The first phase of the research involved a scoping exercise around primary care educational needs, education and training delivery, and suitability testing of various virtual reality (VR) tools for use in the primary care context

Link 1: An Independent Evaluation of Phase One of the South Yorkshire Primary Care Innovation centre

Collaborators and sponsors:

NHS England/South Yorkshire Primary care Workforce Education and Training Hub (SY PCWTH)

Publications

Other activities

• Member of the UK Academy of Advanced Practice Research
• Reviewer for BMC Primary Care/BMC Medical Education/Nurse Education Today

Postgraduate supervision

I am currently supervising 2 PhD students:

• Paula Berridge: Case management in older adults with multimorbidity
• Laura Makey: Women, loneliness and HIV