Exeter Collaboration for Academic Primary Care (APEx) Blog
Exeter Collaboration for Academic Primary Care (APEx) Blog
Posted by ma403
13 January 2026Supporting Research Capacity in Community Rehabilitation
I’m a physiotherapist by background, and I currently work across two roles: one in the NHS, supporting Allied Health Professionals (AHPs) across Devon, and one in academia, where my research focuses on community rehabilitation and the workforce that delivers it. Across both roles, there is a common thread — and it’s the part of my work I enjoy most.
Supporting AHPs working in rehabilitation to take their first steps into research.
Why rehabilitation generates research questions
Rehabilitation is inherently complex. It’s delivered across settings, shaped by workforce capacity, and tailored to people living with long-term conditions, frailty, or recovery after illness or injury. Outcomes matter — but they’re not always easy to define or measure.
Because of this, rehabilitation clinicians are constantly making judgements, adapting interventions, and navigating system pressures. Unsurprisingly, that can generate questions:
“Why does this work well for some people but not others?”
“How do we know this service is doing what we think it is?”
“What outcomes really matter in community rehabilitation?”
These are research questions — even if they don’t always label them that.
Research advice clinics: supporting rehabilitation clinicians
As part of my role with NHS Devon, I run “Research Advice Clinics” for AHPs, many of whom work in community and intermediate care rehabilitation services.
Some people come with a specific rehabilitation-focused idea — for example, around service models, outcomes, workforce roles or a specific intervention. Others come because they are starting to think about research as part of their career and want to understand what that might look like within a rehabilitation context.
The clinics are informal by design. They create space to:
For many, the biggest shift is realising that their everyday rehabilitation practice already places them at the centre of important research questions.
One thing that doesn’t surprise me — but does still disappoint me — is that no clinician who has come to a clinic has described having protected research time within their role. Research is something people are trying to fit around clinical demand, often in their own time, despite the fact that rehabilitation services are expected to be evidence-informed, adaptive and outcomes-focused.
Building a rehabilitation research community
Individual support is important, but rehabilitation research capacity grows more effectively when people are connected.
I co-founded the South West Community Rehabilitation Research Network to bring together clinicians, academics, service leaders and partners who share an interest in improving community rehabilitation. The network provides a space to share challenges, align priorities, and develop research that reflects the realities of rehabilitation delivery.
Crucially, it also reinforces that rehabilitation research is not just about interventions, but about systems, workforce, and how care is experienced by people using services.
Small steps
Not everyone I support will go on to lead a large rehabilitation study. But if clinicians feel more confident questioning practice, using evidence, or exploring research pathways, that strengthens rehabilitation as a whole.
Research capacity in rehabilitation is built gradually — through conversations, relationships, and support that reflects the complexity of the work.
That’s why this matters to me — and why I love doing it.
