The Risk-stratified Healthcare Group is co-led by Dr Juliet Usher-Smith and Professor Simon Griffin. The focus of the group is on the implementation and evaluation of interventions that enable the targeting of healthcare to individuals or population subgroups who have the most to gain. This includes preventative, screening and early diagnostic interventions and treatment
Moving from ‘one-size-fits-all’ healthcare to a more targeted, stratified approach has the potential to reduce the burden of disease and treatment while minimising the harms of interventions amongst those with less to gain. The ability to categorise individuals or population subgroups into those who are likely to benefit from interventions has increased rapidly in recent years with advances in risk prediction modelling and health data science. However, realising the potential benefits of risk-stratification requires implementation approaches that align with the values of individuals and the healthcare system, that reduce rather than exacerbate inequalities, that are cost-effective, and that have been demonstrated to positively impact health outcomes within clinical care pathways.
In our current work, we apply a range of multidisciplinary applied health research approaches that broadly aim to:
- Understand the practical, societal, ethical, psychological and behavioural aspects associated with risk-stratified approaches;
- Develop practical strategies to identify individuals or groups at increased risk of disease or recurrence of disease and likely to benefit from interventions;
- Develop and evaluate ways to communicate information about health behaviours, risk factors and disease risk to maximise shared decision making;
- Develop and evaluate interventions to reduce disease risk;
- Assess the real-world impact of implementing risk stratification within clinical care pathways.