Biography
Ben is an internationally recognised clinical academic community nurse. He practices clinically as an Honorary Nurse Consultant in Palliative Care. Ben is also the Deputy Theme Lead for NIHR ARC East of England’s Palliative and End of Life Care theme.
In 2023, Ben was announced as one of the 75 nurses and midwives whose work has had an especially significant impact on the NHS since its creation. He was awarded the RCGP & SAPC Outstanding Early Career Researcher in 2024 and the European Association for Palliative Care Early Researcher Award 2023, in recognition of his outstanding contributions to international palliative care and primary care research. Ben is a Fellow of the Queen’s Institute of Community Nursing, and an Honorary Associate Professor with the University of Nottingham.
Research
Ben leads a programme of interdisciplinary research focused on improving care of the dying at home. Ben’s Wellcome Early Career Award research is investigating the human and system factors involved in the safe, effective and timely use of injectable symptom control medications. This research draws on social science, engineering design and patient safety disciplines. Ben is also researching the provision of person-centred end-of-life care in increasingly resource constrained community healthcare systems.
Ben works with colleagues across the UK to translate research findings into clinical practice and build research capacity in community healthcare. He co-founded and leads the UK-wide QNI Community Nursing Research Forum, with over 1000 community nurse members to date. Ben is supporting several early-career researchers, across disciplines, and is passionate about the value of interdisciplinary research and public engagement.
Publications
Polak L, Pollock K, Barclay S, Bowers B. How changes in GPs’ ways of working have affected community nurses: a qualitative study. British Journal of General Practice 2025; 75: e406–e411.
Bowers B, Pollock K, Etkind S, et al. ‘We’ve Taken on a More Advanced Clinical Role’: A Multimethod Study of Community Nurses’ Extended Roles in Palliative Care. Journal of Advanced Nursing 2025; Online First: 1–11.
Bowers B, Bashford T. ‘Make do and mend’: redefining resilience within community healthcare. British Journal of Community Nursing 2025; 30: 364–366.
Bowers B, Pollock K, Wilkerson I, Massou E, Brimicombe J, Barclay S. Administering injectable medications prescribed in the anticipation of the end of life in the community: A mixed-methods observational study. International Journal of Nursing Studies 2024. 153: 104734
Couchman E, Pocock L, Bowers B, et al. Reforming primary palliative care: a call to arms. British Journal of General Practice 2024; 74: 4–6.
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: 1106
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): afac293
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
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
Teaching and Supervisions
Ben is open to approaches to supervise University of Cambridge PhD and MPhil students within his fields of interests.
Other Professional Activities
Community Nursing Research Forum Lead, Queen’s Institute of Community Nursing (2022 – current)
Jesus College Post-Doctoral Associate (October 2022 – current)
Visiting Senior Research Fellow, Cardiff University School of Medicine (2021 – current
