Dr Alison Harper

About me:

I completed my PhD at University of Exeter Business School and since 2020 have worked as a research fellow with PenCHORD (Peninsula Collaboration for Healthcare Operational Research & Data Science) in the University of Exeter Medical School NIHR Applied Research Collaborative, where I remain an honorary researcher. I completed an ESRC funded fellowship in 2022, and joined the University of Exeter Business School in September 2023.

ORCID:0000-0001-5274-5037

Current Research:

STARS: Sharing Tools and Artefacts for Reproducible Simulations in healthcare.

STARS aims to improve the quality and quantity of shared discrete-event simulation models, tools, and other research artefacts in healthcare through the development of a new framework for sharing computer models, online interactive training materials for knowledge transfer, user testing, and support for simulation journals to adopt open science principles. It is funded by MRC and is led by UEMS, and runs until 2026.

Previous recent research projects include:

Improving Patient flow between Acute, Community and Social care (IPACS)

This 3-year project was funded by HDRUK and was in collaboration with NHS Bristol, North Somerset and South Gloucester (BNSSG) Integrated Care Board, and University of Bath School of Management.

Using open-source simulation tools, the IPACS project aimed to investigate what may constitute an optimal balance of capacity along complex hospital discharge pathways and assess how responsive total spend in the local health and social care economy might be in relation to the capacity of community and home-based care.

• More information: IPACS - Improving Patient flow between Acute, Community and Social care - PenARC
• Project materials: BNSSG GitHub and Zenodo

Hospital Efficiency Project (HEP)

This HDRUK-funded project in collaboration with University of Bristol and North Bristol NHS Trust aimed to support North Bristol to manage orthopaedic surgery elective waiting lists. The model was co-designed to support planning of a new ring-fenced surgical facility in Bristol, and has been developed to be generalizable to similar applications in other areas. It is deployed as a web app for managers and clinicians to support planning the balance of capacity between beds and operating theatres, and the effects of productivity and efficiency measures on resource requirements.

• Project materials: GitHub and Zenodo

Interests:

• Real time simulation
• Hybrid modelling
• Discrete event simulation
• Health service delivery