Exeter Collaboration for Academic Primary Care (APEx) Blog

Exeter Collaboration for Academic Primary Care (APEx) Blog

In category: Long Term Conditions


Things we don’t know, by Associate Professor Chris Clark & Professor Rupert Payne

Caring for people with long-term conditions takes up substantial resources. This isn’t news, but it’s surprising how much we still don’t know. It’s often simple stuff, that would really help us deliver care more effectively and efficiently. Work being undertaken by APEx academics in our Long-Term Conditions research theme is looking at some of these […]


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The long research journey – experiences from the IMPPP polypharmacy study by Professor Rupert Payne

A few members of the team following the IMPPP dissemination event at RCGP in October 2025 The research process can be a long one. Back in 2016, NIHRput a call out for evidence for interventions to improve the management ofpolypharmacy. By early in 2018, we had been awarded just under £2 million byHSDR to develop, […]


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Patient Bridge Role, by Beccy Summers – Research Associate

Patient and public involvement (PPI) in research is about researchers and patients/public members working together in equal partnership to do research. PPI in health research is critical because it ensures that the research we do is relevant to and benefits those most impacted by the research. PPI for large programmes of work involving multiple studies […]


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Croeso i Gaerdydd: better than Bali? by Rupert Payne

I was recently moaning about the fact that a colleague of mine is presenting the economic evaluation of our recent IMPPP clinical trial at the International Health Economics Association congress later this month. In Bali. Meanwhile, yours truly had to make do with a trip to Cardiff for this year’s SAPC Annual Scientific Meeting. Clearly […]


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GLP-1s agonists: The good, the bad and the ‘what are we still doing wrong’ by Tomazo Kallis – Clinical Research Fellow

When Prof Rupert Payne and I got our heads together to start writing our latest BJGP Editorial GLP-1 receptor agonists: panacea or affirmation of societal failure? It was difficult to know where to start. GLP-1 receptor agonists under the various brand names of Ozempic, Wegovy and Mounjaro have sky rocketed in use over recent years. […]


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Should we be more relaxed about high blood pressure?

Associate Professor Christopher Clark We know how to lower blood pressure with drugs,  and quite a lot about how health professionals can help people to treat their hypertension. (1) Evidence to support these interventions is well summarised in various international hypertension guidelines, which also reinforce lifestyle changes to lower blood pressure and reduce cardiovascular risk. […]


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South-West SAPC by Professor Rupert Payne

I’ve always enjoyed the regional SAPC conferences. Being very much at the smaller end of the conference spectrum, they are a great way to find out what’s going on in the local region, and offer an opportunity for early career researchers in particular to present work in a friendly and relaxed environment. The 2025 meeting […]


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APEx End of Year Report by Professor Richard Neal – Director of APEx (Exeter Collaboration for Academic Primary Care).

Wow, it has been an amazing year, and my first full year as Director of APEx (Exeter Collaboration for Academic Primary Care). I wanted to take this opportunity to give an overview of the year in some numbers. And there have been so many achievements over the past 12 months, that I am not going […]


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SPCR Trainee Event Blog post – Dr Rosina Cross

Attending my first School for Primary Care Research (SPCR) Trainee event marked a significant milestone in my Post Doctoral Fellowship, researching physical activity promotion in Primary Care. Fresh from the excitement of being awarded a SPCR Funded fellowship, I arrived at the Manchester Marriott Piccadilly Hotel, eager to immerse myself in the programme of events. […]


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Society for Academic Primary Care conference by Dr Rosina Cross – Postdoctoral Research Fellow

In July I attended the Society for Academic Primary Care (SAPC) conference in Bristol, my adopted home. This year the theme was “Sustainable Primary Care: healthy systems, healthy people”, which seemed fitting as Bristol is the UK’s first cycling city and has been voted the most environmentally friendly city in the UK. It also cannot […]


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