The Clinical Nursing Research Group (CNRG) was started by Professor of Nursing, Christi Deaton, as a multi-disciplinary team of researchers in the Primary Care Unit in the Department of Primary Care and Public Health. Professor Deaton has now retired from her post but continues to be active part-time in research and professional activities.
The CNRG has been conducting research focusing on improving outcomes in people with long-term conditions, and building research capacity and capability among nurses, midwives and allied health professionals (NMAPs) in Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (CUHFT) and the School of Clinical Medicine. Building research capacity among NMAPs is being led by Professor of Nursing Joanne McPeake at CUHFT and the School: Professor Joanne McPeake - THIS Institute - The Healthcare Improvement Studies Institute
Ongoing research mainly focuses on patients with heart failure and preserved ejection fraction led by Professor Deaton and Faye Forsyth, who has recently completed her PhD. Much of the work stems from the Optimising Management of Patients with Heart Failure and Preserved Ejection Fraction in Primary Care programme (Optimise HFpEF) funded by the NIHR School for Primary Care Research, Addenbrooke’s Charitable Trust, the Burdett Trust and the British Heart Foundation Centre for Research Excellence 2017 – 2021 and the Preserve-HFpEF study funded by the Evelyn Trust 2021 – 2024.
Professor Deaton is a co-investigator on several current studies listed below and is on the Steering Committee of the National HFpEF Registry (C Miller PI) and the Norwegian CONCARDPCI Study (T Norekval PI).
Feasibility Trial of electronic Health record INtelligent tooling in primary care for quicKer diagnosis of HF THINK-HF”( NIHR206318). Leads: C Lawson & C Deaton. Co-I: K Khunti, G McCann, L Bernhardt, S Prinjha, K Williams.
Improve the Meaning of Patient Reported Outcomes to eValuate Effectiveness forCardiac Care (IMPROVE-Cardiac Care). PI: R Masterson-Creber; Co-I: Deaton, et al. Funded by National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute, NIH (USA).
A randomised controlled trial of a facilitated home-based rehabilitation intervention in patients with heart failure with preserved ejection fraction and their caregivers: the REACH-HFpEF Study. Leads: Taylor (Glasgow) & Lang (Dundee); Co-I: Deaton, et al. Funded by NIHR Health Technology Assessment.
Research Highlights: People with HFpEF Remain Underserved
Despite recent positive pharmacological trials and renewed emphasis on diagnosis, patients with heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF) remain underserved in the healthcare system. Recent surveys have shown that not all heart failure specialist services accept and manage patients with HFpEF Heart failure services from the hospital perspective in the UK: a cross-sectional survey. Findings from a consensus survey conducted as part of the Optimise-HFpEF research revealed that although there is agreement regarding the value of diagnosing patients with HFpEF, there is little consensus regarding methods and responsibilities for diagnosis and management bmjopen-14-12.pdf. Most patients with HFpEF are older and have a high prevalence of multimorbidity and frailty. Work led by Faye Forsyth in her PhD has shown that exercise interventions for older adults with multimorbidity rarely follow the developmental steps advocated by the MRC Framework for Complex Interventions HSR2-7-e2190.pdf and that the interventions are heterogeneous and do not always consider the needs of and barriers to exercise in people with multimorbidity Exercise Modalities in Multi-Component Interventions for Older adults with Multi-Morbidity: A Systematic Review and Narrative Synthesis - ScienceDirect
Recent publications from Optimise HFpEF, Preserve HFpEF and other work:
Raphael R, Blakeman T, Chew-Graham C, Forsyth F, Hossain M, Sowden E, Deaton C. Changes in Heart Failure Healthcare in General Practice During the COVID-19 Pandemic. Br J Gen Practice Open. 2025 (in press)
Goyal P, Zainul O, Sharma Y, Reich A, Osma P, Lau J, Massou E, Turchioe M, Russell D, Masterson Creber R, Deaton C. Geriatric Vulnerabilities Among Adults with Heart Failure with Preserved Ejection Fraction: An Evaluation from Two Different Continents. J Am Cardiol Coll: Advances. 2025 (in press).
Masters J, Kwok CS, Duckett S, Piper SE, Deaton C. Heart failure services from the community perspective in the United Kingdom: A cross-sectional survey. Br J Cardiol. 2025 (in press).
Forsyth F, Deaton C, Kalra PR, Green M, Harrison ME, Tavares S, Dirksen A, Kuhn I, Farquharson B, Austin RC. What services are currently provided to people with heart failure with preserved ejection fraction in the UK, and what are their components? A protocol for a scoping literature review. Eur J Cardiovasc Nurs. 2025; 24: 83 – 88. doi: https://doi.org/10.1093/eurjcn/zvae119
Kwok CS, Piper SE, Deaton C, Masters J, Duckett S. Heart failure services from the hospital perspective in the UK: a cross-sectional survey. Br J Cardiol. 2025;32(1) doi:10.5837/bjc.2025.001
Russell D, Sharma Y, … Deaton C, et al. Stakeholder Perspectives on the Meaningful Integration of Clinical Informatics Interventions Using Patient-Reported Outcomes in Healthcare. ACI Open 2024;8:e79–e88; DOI:10.1055/a-2461-3027.
Austin R, Khair E, Blakeman T, Chew-Graham C, Forsyth F, Hossain M, Sowden E, Deaton C. Diagnosing and Managing Patients with Heart Failure with Preserved Ejection Fraction: A Consensus Survey. BMJ Open. 2024; 14: e092993 Doi: 10.1136/bmjopen-2024-092993
Forsyth F, Soh CL, Elks N, Lin H, Bailey K, Brooman-White R, Rowbotham S, Mant J, Hartley P, Deaton C. Development steps of multimodal exercise interventions for older adults with multimorbidity: A systematic review. Health Sci Rep. 2024;7:e2190. doi: 10.1002/hsr2.2190.
Forsyth F, Deaton C. In memory of John Sharpley: a patient with HFpEF who really made a difference. Eur J Cardiovasc Nurs. 2024; doi: 10.1093/eurjcn/zvae058
Forsyth F, Soh CL, Elks N, Lin H, Bailey K, Rowbotham S, Mant J, Hartley P, Deaton C. Exercise Modalities in Multi-Component Interventions for Older adults with Multi-Morbidity: A Systematic Review and Narrative Synthesis. J Frailty Aging. 2024: http://dx.doi.org/10.14283/jfa.2024.28
Instenes I, Fridlund B, Borregaard B, Larsen AI, Allore H, Bendz B, Deaton C, Rotevatn S, Falun N, Norekval TM. ‘When age is not a barrier’: an explorative study of nonagenarian patients’ experiences of undergoing percutaneous coronary intervention. European Journal of Cardiovascular Nursing. 2024. doi: 10.1093/eurjcn/zvad132