Wellcome Post-Doctoral Research Fellow

Honorary Nurse Consultant in Palliative Care, Queen’s Nurse

Email: bb527@medschl.cam.ac.uk

Twitter: @Ben_Bowers__

Office: East Forvie Building | ORCID

Background

Ben is a clinical-academic community nurse. He is a Wellcome Post-Doctoral Fellow and practices clinically as an Honorary Nurse Consultant in Palliative Care. He has held the title of Queen’s Nurse since 2009 in recognition of his ongoing commitment to patient-centered care and evidence-based practice.

Ben was awarded the Queen Elizabeth Award for Outstanding Service in 2022, for exceptional long-term contributions and leadership in advancing community nursing and palliative and end of life care. He has recently been awarded the European Association for Palliative Care Early Researcher Award for outstanding contributions to palliative care research. Ben is also an Honorary Associate Professor with the University of Nottingham.

Research Interests

Ben’s Wellcome post-doctoral interdisciplinary research seeks to understand the human and system factors involved in the safe, effective and timely use of injectable end-of-life symptom control medications for adults dying at home.

 

He is also researching general practice and community nursing provision of palliative care, and end-of-life decision-making. Ben’s recent high-impact NIHR funded doctoral research investigated community end-of-life anticipatory prescribing practice and patients’, family caregivers’ and healthcare professionals’ perspectives of this care.

 

Ben works with colleagues across the UK to translate research findings into clinical practice and build community nurse research capacity. He co-founded and leads the UK-wide QNI Community Nursing Research Forum, with over 600 members to date.

 

Ben is supporting several early-career researchers and is passionate about the value of interdisciplinary research. He co-convenes the University of Cambridge Qualitative Research Forum.

Awards

European Association for Palliative Care Early Researcher Award (2023)

NHS England Community Nursing Research Award (2022)

Queen Elizabeth Award for Outstanding Service (2022)

Additional Information

Community Nursing Research Consultant, Queen’s Nursing Institute (2022 – current)

Jesus College Post-Doctoral Associate (October 2022 – 2025)

Visiting Research Fellow, Cardiff University School of Medicine (2021 – current)

Honorary Associate Professor, University of Nottingham (2023 – current)

Editorial Board Member for the International Journal of Nursing Studies Advances (2021 – current)

Editorial Board Member for the British Journal of Community Nursing (2013 – current)

Selected Publications

Bowers B, Antunes BCP, Etkind S, Hopkins S, Winterburn I, Kuhn I, Pollock K, Barclay S. Anticipatory prescribing in community end-of-life care: systematic review and narrative synthesis of the evidence since 2017. BMJ Supportive & Palliative Care 2023. Online First: 26 May 2023

Bowers B, Howard P, Madden B, Pollock K, Barclay S. Is end-of-life anticipatory prescribing always enough? British Medical Journal 2023; 381: p1106

O’Hara L, Evans C, Bowers B. Family carers’ administration of injectable medications at the end of life: a service evaluation of a novel intervention. British Journal of Community Nursing 2023; Online First

Bowers B, Wilson E. Managing medication at the end of life: supporting family carers. British Journal of Community Nursing 2023; 28(1):34-36

Bowers B, Pollock K, Barclay S. Simultaneously reassuring and unsettling: a longitudinal qualitative study of community anticipatory medication prescribing for older patients. Age and Ageing 2022. 51(12): Online First

Bowers B, Pollock K, Barclay S. Unwelcome memento mori or best clinical practice? Community end-of-life anticipatory medication prescribing practice: a mixed methods observational study. Palliative Medicine 2022; 36(1): 95-104

Majumder M, Bowers B, Pollock K, Goodman C, Kuhn I, Barclay S. End of life care in UK care homes – controlled drugs: systematic review and narrative synthesis. BMJ Supportive & Palliative Care Online First: 29 June 2022

Antunes B, Bowers B, Barclay S, Gallagher J, Conci R, Polak L. Community-based anticipatory prescribing during COVID-19: a qualitative study. BMJ Supportive & Palliative Care Online First: 1 June 2022

Bowers B, Pollock K, Dickman A, Ryan R, Barclay S. Anticipatory syringe pumps: benefits and risks. BMJ Supportive & Palliative Care Published Online First: 19 January 2021

Bowers B, Pollock K, Oldman C, Barclay S. End-of-life care during COVID-19: opportunities and challenges for community nursing. British Journal of Community Nursing 2021; 26(1): 44-46

Papavasiliou E, Hoare S, Bowers B, Kelly MP, Barclay S. Out-of-hours services and end-of-life hospital admissions: A complex intervention systematic review and narrative synthesis. British Journal of General Practice 2021; 71(711): e780-e787

Bowers B, Barclay SS, Pollock K, Barclay S. General Practitioners’ decisions about prescribing end-of-life anticipatory medications: a qualitative study. British Journal of General Practice 2020; 70(699) e731-739

Bowers B, Pollock K, Barclay S. Administration of end-of-life drugs by family caregivers during covid-19 pandemic. British Medical Journal 2020; 369: m1615

Bowers B, Lovick R, Pollock K, Barclay S. Patient and public involvement in general practice research. British Journal of General Practice 2020; 70 (694): 220-221

Bowers B, Ryan R, Kuhn I, Barclay S. Anticipatory prescribing of injectable medications for adults at the end of life in the community: A systematic literature review and narrative synthesis. Palliative Medicine 2019; 33(2): 160-177