The ROWTATE programme of research

Our aim is to develop a package of support to help moderately and severely injured patients return to work and assess how well it works.

Moderate or severe traumatic injuries, often caused by road accidents, falls, sporting injuries or assaults, can be life changing or life threatening. Such injuries are common, but more patients now survive due to improved care. However, many suffer physical and psychological problems, reducing quality of life and the chance of returning to work.

We know being in work is good for physical and psychological health, but NHS help for injured people to return to work is patchy and poorly developed. Our research will develop a package of individualised support to help people stay in or return to work (vocational rehabilitation) and test how well it works and whether it provides value for money. It will also ensure the package is suitable to implement in the NHS at the end of the research programme.

Our research involves 5 key stages:

We will work closely with a group of trauma survivors and involve them throughout the project. They will advise us, undertake some aspects of the research, help us to analyse data, interpret findings, write reports for publication and advise on communicating our results to the public.