University Senior Lecturer in General Practice and Palliative Care, General Practitioner and Honorary Consultant Physician in Palliative Care
M.A., B.M., B.Ch., M.Sc., F.R.C.G.P., F.H.E.A., M.D.
Email: sigb2@medschl.cam.ac.uk
Tel: 01223 763082
Background
Stephen’s pre-clinical medical training was in Cambridge and his clinical training in Oxford. He has worked clinically in General Practice for over 30 years in Palliative Medicine as Honorary Consultant Physician in Palliative Care at the Arthur Rank Hospice for 25 years.
His 2005 Cambridge MD thesis “General Practitioner provision of Palliative Care in the United Kingdom” was awarded the Clinical School’s Ralph Noble prize. In 2006 he was awarded a Department of Health / Macmillan Post-Doctoral Research Fellowship, leading a programme of research “Towards an intervention to optimise Primary Palliative Care: identifying patients and understanding their preferences.”
In 2011 he was appointed HEFCE Clinical Senior Lecturer in General Practice and Palliative Care in the Primary Care Unit. He was promoted to University Senior Lecturer and awarded a University Pilkington Prize for teaching excellence in 2015. He leads the Unit’s Palliative and End of Life Care research group and the teaching of Palliative Care in the Medical School. In 2020 he was appointed Honorary Professor in Palliative and Primary Care at the University of East Anglia Norwich Medical School.
He is Clinical Lead in End of Life Care for the Cambridge and Peterborough CCG, and the CCG’s End of Life Care Data Sharing project. He leads the Palliative and End of Life Care Theme of the NIHR Applied Research Collaboration (ARC) East of England and co-leads the national cross-ARC PEOLC Collaborative with colleagues in ARC South London.
Research Interests
Stephen has worked in Palliative and End of Life Care research for over 20 years. His research focuses on Palliative and End of Life Care in Primary Care, with a particular interest in General Practitioner and District Nurse provision of care, end of life care conversations in cancer and non-cancer illness, decision-making concerning treatment cessation in advanced disease and medical student education in Palliative Care. He led the End of Life Care theme of the NIHR CLAHRC for Cambridgeshire and Peterborough 2008 – 2013 and currently leads the End of Life Care sub-theme in the NIHR CLAHRC East of England 2014 – 2018.
Teaching
In 2002 he was appointed by the Cambridge School of Clinical Medicine as Specialty Director for Palliative Care: since then he has led a considerable expansion of the curricular time allocated to Palliative Care, which now forms a major component of the Cambridge clinical course and is regularly examined in the medical students’ Finals examinations. He co-leads the Undergraduate Education Forum of the Association for Palliative Medicine and led to 2014 and 2020 revisions of the national curriculum for medical student teaching in Palliative Care.
Selected recent publications include:
Antunes B, Bowers B, Winterburn I, Kelly M, Brodrick R, Pollock K, Majumder M, Spathis A, Laurie I, George R, Ryan R, Barclay S. (June 2020). “The changing landscape of anticipatory prescribing practice in community end-of-life care in the United Kingdom during the COVID-19 pandemic: online survey of healthcare professionals”. British Medical journal Supportive and Palliative Care: paper in press. doi.org/10.1136/bmjspcare-2020-002394
Bowers B, Barclay S, Pollock K, Barclay S. (2020) “General Practitioners’ decisions about prescribing end-of-life anticipatory medications: a qualitative study”. British Journal of General Practice: paper in press
Hopkins S, Lovick R, Polak L, Bowers B, Morgan T, Kelly M, Barclay S (May 2020). “Reassessing advance care planning in the light of covid-19. Focus on creating a shared narrative not recording choices”. British Medical Journal; 369: m1927 doi:10.1136/bmj.m1927
Bowers B, Pollock K, Lovick R, Barclay S (May 2020). “Patient and Public Involvement in general practice research”. British Journal of General Practice: 70 (694): 220-221. doi.org/10.3399/bjgp20X709457
Hopkins S, Bentley A, Phillips V, Barclay S (April 2020). “Advance care plans and hospitalised frail older adults: a systematic review”. BMJ Supportive and Palliative Care: published online 14 04 2020. doi:10.1136/bmjspcare-2019-002093
Bowers B, Pollock K, Barclay S. (April 2020). “Administration of end-of-life drugs by family caregivers during covid-19 pandemic. Doing this safely needs training, support and careful prescribing”. British Medical Journal: 369: m1615 doi: 10.1136/bmj.m1615
Yorganci E, Evans C, Johnson H, Barclay S, Murtagh F, Yi D, Gao W, Pickles A, Koffman J (Feb 2020). “Characterising ‘standard care’ in randomised controlled trials of complex interventions: using a novel multi-methods approach”. Palliative Medicine: e-pub Feb 2020 DOI: 10.1177/0269216320905064
Kassam C, Duschinsky R, Brasset C, Barclay S (Feb 2020). “Knowing everything and yet nothing about her”. Medical students’ reflections on the experience of the Dissection Room. BMJ Medical Humanities: e-pub Feb 2020 doi:10.1136/medhum-2019-011708
Rees-Roberts M, Williams P, Hashem F, Brigden C, Greene K, Gage H, Goodwin M, Sibsbury G, Wee B, Barclay S, Wilson P, Butler C (Nov 2019). “National survey of Hospice at Home services in England: developing a typology of services”. BMJ Supportive and Palliative Care: e-pub Nov 2019 doi:10.1136/bmjspcare-2019-001818
Bharmal A, Morgan T, Kuhn I, Wee B, Barclay S. (Nov 2019). “Palliative and End of Life Care and Junior Doctors: a systematic review and narrative synthesis”. BMJ Supportive and Palliative Care: e-pub Nov 2019 doi:10.1136/bmjspcare-2019-001954
Koffman J, Yorganci E, Yi D, Gao W, Murtagh F, Pickles A, Barclay S, Johnson H, Wilson R, Sampson L, Droney J, Farquhar M, Provost T, Evans C. (Aug 2019). “Managing uncertain recovery for patients nearing the end of life in hospital; a mixed-method, feasibility cluster randomised controlled trial of the AMBER care bundle”. Trials: 20: 506 doi.org/10.1186/s13063-019-3612-0
Morin L, Todd A, Barclay S, Wastesson J, Fastbom J, Johnell J (June 2019). “Preventive drugs in the last year of life of older adults with cancer: is there room for deprescribing?” Cancer: 125 (13); 2309 – 2317 doi.org/10.1002/cncr.32044
Hoare S, Kelly M, Barclay S (June 2019). “Home care and end-of-life hospital admissions: a retrospective interview study”. British Journal of General Practice: e 561 – 569 doi.org/10.3399/bjgp19X704561
Bowers B, Ryan R, Hoare S, Barclay S (2019). “Anticipatory syringe drivers: a step too far”. BMJ Supportive and Palliative Care; 9: 149–150. doi:10.1136/bmjspcare-2018-001728
Fistein E, Clarke G, Holland A, Barclay S (2019). “This Condition isn’t going to get any better so I can’t see why we’re prolonging it”. Risks and benefits of using empirical research to inform normative decisions concerning end of life care. Journal of Disability and Religion; 22 (3): 283–297. DOI: 10.1080/23312521.2018.1493959
Barclay S, Moran E, Boase S, Johnson M, Lovick R, Graffy J, White P, Deboys B, Harrison K, Swash B. (2019). “Primary Palliative Care research: opportunities and challenges”. BMJ Supportive and Palliative Care: e-pub Feb 2019 doi.org/10.1136/bmjspcare-2018-001653
Boland J, Barclay S, Gibbins J (2019). “Twelve tips for developing palliative care teaching in an undergraduate curriculum for medical students”. Medical Teacher: e-pub Jan 2019 2018 doi.org/10.1080/0142159X.2018.1533243
Petrova M, Barclay S (2019). “Research approvals iceberg. How a ‘low-key’ study in England needed 89 professionals to approve it and how we can do better”. BMC Medical Ethics; 20 (7): doi.org/10.1186/s12910-018-0339-5
Bowers B, Ryan R, Kuhn I, Barclay S (2018). “Anticipatory prescribing of injectable medications for adults at the end of life in the community: a systematic review”. Palliative Medicine; 33(2): 160 – 177 DOI: 10.1177/0269216318815796
Knights D, Knights F, Barclay S (2018). “ ‘Please make comfortable’: prescribing and communicating opioids in the wake of Gosport”. British Journal of General Practice: 68 (674): 462 – 3. doi.org/10.3399/bjgp18X698705
Clarke G, Fistein E, Holland A, Tobin J, Barclay SS, Barclay S (2018). “Planning for an uncertain future in progressive neurological disease: a qualitative study of patient and family decision-making with a focus on nutrition and hydration interventions”. BMC Neurology; 18: 115 doi.org/10.1186/s12883-018-1112-6
Harshfield A, Abel G, Barclay S, Payne R (2018). “Do GPs accurately record date of death? A UK observational analysis”. BMJ Supportive and Palliative Care: e-pub July 2018 doi:10.1136/bmjspcare-2018-001514
Hoare S, Kelly M, Prothero L, Barclay S (2018). “Ambulance practitioners and end-of-life hospital admissions: an interview study”. Palliative Medicine; 32(9): 1465 – 2473 DOI: 10.1177/0269216318779238
Butler C, Brigden C, Gage H, Williams P, Holdsworth L, Greene K, Wee B, Barclay S, Wilson P (2018). “Optimum hospice at home services for end of life care; protocol of a mixed methods study employing realist evaluation”. BMJ Open 2018; 8: e021192. doi:10.1136/bmjopen-2017-021192
Thomas T, Clarke G, Barclay S (2018). “The difficulties of discharging hospice patients to care homes at the end of life. A focus group study”. Palliative Medicine: e-pub May 2018 DOI: 10.1177/0269216318772735
Diver R, Thiemann P, Quince T, Barclay S (2018). “Palliative care in medical practice: medical students’ expectations”. BMJ Supportive and Palliative Care: e-pub April 2018 doi:10.1136/bmjspcare-2017-001486
Stow D, Matthews F, Barclay S, Iliffe S, Clegg A, De Biase S, Robinson L, Hanratty B (2018). “Frailty scores to predict mortality in older adults using data from population based electronic health records: case control study”. Age and Ageing: epub 15.03.2018 doi: 10.1093/ageing/afy022
Petrova M, Barclay S (2018). “Something’s awry (again) in the debate on patient data sharing”. British Journal of General Practice: 68 (688); 133. DOI:10.3399/bjgp18X695081
Buck J, Webb W, Moth L, Morgan L, Barclay S (2018). “Persistent inequalities in Hospice at Home provision: findings from a service evaluation”. BMJ Supportive and Palliative Care: published on line Feb 2018 doi.10.1136/bmjspcare-2017-001367
Green E, Knight S, Gott M, Barclay S, White P (2018). “Patients’ and carers’ perspectives of palliative care in general practice: a systematic review and narrative synthesis of the literature”. Palliative Medicine: 32 (4); 838 – 850 doi/10.1177/0269216317748862
Sharp T, Malyon A, Barclay S (2017). “GPs’ perceptions of advance care planning with frail and older people.” British Journal of General Practice: 68; 44 – 53. DOI/10.3399/bjgp17X694145
Fleming J, Calloway R, Perrels A, Farquhar M, Barclay S, Brayne C and CC75C Cambridge City over-75s Cohort study collaboration (2017). “Dying comfortably in very old age with or without dementia in different care settings: a representative “older old” population study”. BMC Geriatrics 2017 17/222 DOI 10.1186/s12877-017-0605-2