Dr Anna Winterbottom

Profile

I am a Senior Health Services Researcher at the Leeds Renal Unit, St James University Hospital and Visiting Associate Professor at the Leeds Institute of Health Sciences – School of Medicine, University of Leeds.

My expertise is in using mixed methods to investigate how people make decisions about treatment and care plans for kidney failure, what factors enable services to support people with kidney disease, and their families, to be involved proactively in their care, and evaluating the integration of decision aid interventions on service delivery and patient outcomes. [Orcid ID: orcid.org/0000-0002-1206-9430]

I am a Chartered Psychologist (British Psychological Society 2005) and I was awarded a PhD in Patient Decision Making about Dialysis (University of Leeds, 2009), an MSc in Psychological Approaches to Health (University of Leeds, 2005), an MSc in Health Psychology (University of the West of England, 2002), and a BSc in Psychology (Lancaster University, 1999).

Employment

2023+           Module co-lead year 4/5 MBChB (Extended Research and Evaluation Projects) - School of Medicine, University of Leeds
2023+           Senior Health Services Researcher  – Leeds Renal Unit, Leeds Teaching Hospitals Trust
2023-2014    Health Services Researcher – Leeds Renal Unit, Leeds Teaching Hospitals Trust
2022-2023    Lecturer in Health Psychology – LIME-SoM, University of Leeds
2014-2009    Senior Research Fellow – Renal Unit, Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust & Quality and Safety Unit, Bradford Institute for Health Research, Bradford Royal Infirmary
2009-2004    Doctoral Research Project – School of Psychology, Leeds UK (ESRC 3+1 Case Studentship funding)
2004–2003    Research Assistant – Psychosocial Oncology Research Group, St James’ University Hospital, Leeds
2003–2002    Research Secretary – Patient experience and health professional management of upper Limb Disorders, Medical Research Council, HSRC, Bristol 
 

Responsibilities

• Module co-lead year 4/5 MBChB (Extended Research and Evaluation Projects)

Research interests

My methods draw on shared decision making, health literacy and self-management support frameworks to develop the types of complex interventions needed to innovate practice, working in collaboration with health professionals, patient partners, health service methodologists, and decision scientists. Outputs from the following projects include research-informed patient decision aids, health professional training and peer-reviewed publications.

• The role of peer support in improving adjustment to dialysis and transplantation (Kidney Research UK, 2024-6)
• Development of a resource for health professionals to facilitate conversations with people with kidney disease about end of life (Kidney Care UK/British Renal Society 2021-2022, principal investigator)
• Living kidney donation within BAME communities: establishing the need for a decision support intervention (co-supervisor of Ahmed Ahmed medical doctoral research 2021-2023)
• Examination of the barriers and facilitators to living kidney donation in the BAME community (Kidney Research Yorkshire 2020-2021, co-investigator)
• Professional Scoping Review to Examine Care Priorities and Outcomes for Frail Older Patients with Advanced CKD (Kidney Care UK/British Renal Society 2018-2020, collaborator)
• Dialysis Decisions Getting the Right Balance: survey of stakeholder views (University of Bristol 2019, co-investigator)
• People’s involvement in a family member’s treatment decision for advanced kidney disease  (co-supervisor of Angharad Jones doctoral research 2018-2020)
• Development of the Yorkshire Dialysis and Conservative Care Decision Aid (YoDCA; Kidney Research Yorkshire 2017-2020, principal investigator)
• Developing the Yorkshire Dialysis Decision Aid (YoDDA, Kidney Research UK 2011-2014, researcher)
• Understanding the role of patient stories in dialysis decisions (University of Leeds, 2006-2009, Doctoral Student)
• Critical evaluation of leaflets to inform dialysis decisions in UK renal services (University of Leeds, 2005-2006, pre-doctoral student)
• Patient Safety in Education and Training: A randomised controlled trial (Bradford Institute for Health Research 2009-2011, researcher)
• Development of the Social Difficulties Inventory (University of Leeds 2004-2005, researcher)
• Investigating upper limb pain in primary care (Medical Research Council 2002-2004, researcher)
• Investigating patients’ experience of the diagnosis and treatment of skin cancer (University of the West of England, 2003, researcher)

Qualifications

• PhD in Patient Decision Making about Dialysis (University of Leeds)
• MSc in Psychological Approaches to Health (University of Leeds)
• MSc in Health Psychology (University of the West of England)
• BSc in Psychology (Lancaster University)

Professional memberships

• Chartered Psychologist, British Psychological Society (2005)
• Member, Division of Health Psychology, British Psychological Society, UK (2002+)
• Member, British Psychological Society (2002)

Student education

Co-Lead for the Extended Student-led Research or Evaluation Project ESREP in MBChB Years 4&5. 

Research groups and institutes

• Leeds Institute of Health Sciences
• Complex interventions