What we are working on

I’m Faiza Yahya, a pharmacist by background, and now a PhD student with Newcastle University PSRC. I have worked in hospital, community, and general practice settings. I have a passion for improved safety and integration of patient care between settings. My research will be looking at virtual wards (also known as hospital at home models), particularly those that support patients coming out of hospital early. This is an area that has been fast developing in the UK to provide hospital-level care for patients safely and conveniently in their own home and reduce some of the pressures on the healthcare system. However, there remain a lot of gaps in our knowledge around these processes if we want to ensure consistency, effectiveness, and collaborative working between teams.

I am a PhD student in the Newcastle Patient Safety Research Collaboration, working in the theme of safer integrated health and social care environments. I graduated from Northumbria University with degrees in Psychology (BSc) and Health Psychology (MSc). After this I worked as a Research Assistant at Newcastle University, investigating the use of digital technology to detect early changes in everyday activities that could suggest someone is at risk of developing dementia. As people age, they are more likely to be living with more than one long-term health condition, for which they may need support from many different services. It is important that these patients remain safe from harm as they move between services, and I am interested in how this can be improved for older patients with complex needs. My research will investigate how we can improve the safety of older patients with multiple long-term conditions including dementia as they transition from hospital to home.

I am a mental health occupational therapist. I have worked in various roles across healthcare practice, higher education and research before starting my PhD. 

My research ideas have developed through reflecting the world around me and having conversations with insightful people: researchers, people with personal experience of struggling with their mental health, family carers and other practitioners. My work in inpatient psychiatric services has made me interested in early support in local communities.