Publications by authors named "Niro Siriwardena"

Introduction: We explored experiences of volunteering in Heritage at Risk (HAR) projects, intended to mitigate the deterioration to historic assets, and the relationship with wellbeing. We aimed to understand the value of HAR to volunteers' wellbeing and relationships between HAR programme characteristics such as location, asset type and type of activity.

Methods: We used a qualitative design with semi-structured interviews of a purposive sample of volunteers recruited via Historic England (HE), employing Systematic Grounded Theory involving open, axial and selective coding.

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Vaccine hesitancy has been identified as one of the top 10 threats to global health. The causes of low vaccine uptake are many and vary at micro and macro levels. However, rural and remote coastal areas in the UK experience unique vaccine inequalities due to high levels of deprivation and their unique and complex access-related problems.

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Background: NHS ambulance service staff are at risk of poor physical and mental wellbeing because of the likelihood of encountering stressful and traumatic incidents. While reducing sickness absence and improving wellbeing support to ambulance staff is a key NHS priority, few studies have empirically documented a national picture to inform policy and service re-design. The study aimed to understand how ambulance service trusts in England deal with staff health and wellbeing, as well as how the staff perceive and use wellbeing services.

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Background: Prehospital stroke trials will inevitably recruit patients with non-stroke conditions, so called stroke mimics. We undertook a pre-specified analysis to determine outcomes in patients with mimics in the second Rapid Intervention with Glyceryl trinitrate in Hypertensive stroke Trial (RIGHT-2).

Methods: RIGHT-2 was a prospective, multicentre, paramedic-delivered, ambulance-based, sham-controlled, participant-and outcome-blinded, randomised-controlled trial of transdermal glyceryl trinitrate (GTN) in adults with ultra-acute presumed stroke in the UK.

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Complex interactions between physical landscapes and social factors increase vulnerability to emerging infections and their sequelae. Relative vulnerability to severe illness and/or death (VSID) depends on risk and extent of exposure to a virus and underlying health susceptibility. Identifying vulnerable communities and the regions they inhabit in real time is essential for effective rapid response to a new pandemic, such as COVID-19.

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Background: At times of increasing pressure on emergency departments, and the need for research into different models of service delivery, little is known about how to recruit patients for qualitative research in emergency departments. We report from one study which aimed to collect evidence on patients' experiences of attending emergency departments with different models of using general practitioners, but faced challenges in recruiting patients. This paper aims to identify and reflect on the challenges faced at all stages of patient recruitment, from identifying and inviting eligible patients, consenting them for participation and finally to engaging them in interviews, and make recommendations based on our learning.

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