The Primary Care Unit is part of the Department of Public Health and Primary Care at the University of Cambridge, one of Europe’s premier university departments of population health sciences. Our work focuses on advancing primary care research and education to improve patient outcomes, influence healthcare policy, and train the next generation of clinicians, researchers, and educators.
Our Mission
Through our research and teaching, we aim to:
- Identify and target the behaviours that lead to chronic disease;
- Improve early detection and diagnosis of disease;
- Enhance the quality of health services and patient care;
- Deliver first class teaching and training to medical students, clinicians, researchers and educators.
Leadership and Expertise
The PCU is led by Professor Stephen Morris, supported by a team of senior research leaders, including:
- Professor Stephen Barclay
- Dr Richard Darnton
- Professor Jonathan Mant
- Professor Robbie Duschinsky
- Professor Simon Griffin
- Professor Theresa Marteau
- Associate Professor Anna Spathis
- Associate Professor Juliet Usher-Smith
- Assistant Professor Simon Noah Etkind
- Assistant Professor Shobhana Nagraj
Recent news
Help our researchers identify community nurses’ contributions to end-of-life care with the Notice Study
Dr Ben Bowers, Wellcome Post-Doctoral Research Fellow, and Primary Care Unit, and Joodi Mourhli, Research Assistant, are conducting a short survey investigating what proportion of community nurses’ daily work involves providing care for people in their last year of life. The study also seeks to find out if end-of-life care visits and contacts are being routinely deferred or cancelled due to capacity issues.
The study seeks to invite interested UK-based community nursing colleagues to take part. This research is a partnership between the International Community Nursing Observatory of the Queen’s Institute of Community Nursing (QICN) and University of Cambridge.
The anonymous survey takes 10 minutes to complete. Access the survey here. Your responses will help influence policy makers and inform future research priorities. Watch a video with Dr Ben Bowers who explains further.
Introducing Our Four New ARC Early-Career Clinical Academic Nurse Fellows
The Primary Care Unit (PCU) is delighted to welcome four new ARC Fellows, all early-career Clinical Academic Nurses, who will be leading impactful research projects to advance palliative and community care. Welcome to the PCU: Daisy Jacobs – ARC Impact Fellow, Nancy Burridge – ARC Impact Fellow, Sarah Thompson – ARC Research Fellow and Sian Taylor-Caitens – ARC Research Fellow.
Read more here.
University of Cambridge study becomes the largest randomised atrial fibrillation screening trial ever undertaken
Over 89,000 participants are taking part in the largest ever randomised clinical trial of screening to detect atrial fibrillation (AF). The SAFER trial, funded by the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR), is working with 197 GP practices across England to determine whether systematic AF screening can reduce the risk of strokes and other serious health conditions.
Read more here. Watch our video with Professor Jonathan Mant, Chief Investigator of the SAFER programme, Primary Care Unit, who explains further here.
How do GPs’ new ways of working affect community nurses? A qualitative study
Researchers from the University of Cambridge have found that community nurses providing palliative care find collaborating with GPs harder, where practices have moved towards remote communication and workforce diversification.
Read more here. Watch our video with Dr Ben Bowers, Wellcome Post-Doctoral Research Fellow, Primary Care Unit, to learn more.