Dr Polly Duncan
BMedSci(Nott.), BMBS(Nott.)
Current positions
NIHR Clinical Research Fellow
Bristol Medical School (PHS)Clinical Research Fellow
Bristol Medical School (PHS)
Contact
Press and media
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Research interests
Key research projects
Optimising the use of diagnostic codes for acute respiratory infections in primary care
I am leading this collaborative study between Bristol University and Pfizer, which aims to understand burden of vaccine-preventable acute lower respiratory tract infections, a topic relevant to housebound patients who are at risk of severe illness.
Primary Care Evaluation of Covid-19 Infection Surveillance in our Network (PRECISION) Study: Qualitative (UKRI, December 2020-date).
I am leading this study in partnership with OneCare exploring primary care staff perceptions of weekly practice-level COVID-19 surveillance reports.
Care of Housebound patients in Primary care (CHiP) study (Royal College of General Practitioners, May 2020-date).
I am lead investigator for this study to test the feasibility of conducting research using a UK-wide network of primary care health professionals (PACT). This first exemplar project for PACT focuses on the impact of COVID-19 on healthcare delivery for older (≥65y) housebound people.
Process evaluation of pharmacist component of the 3D intervention: Mixed methods (Royal College of General Practitioners, 2016-date)
I led this study to understand why the 3D intervention (a cluster RCT for patients living with multimorbidity, including a remote pharmacist medication review) had no effect on the number of drugs prescribed.
Qualitative: I interviewed GPs and pharmacists to explore perceptions of medication reviews and collaborative working.
Quantitative: I led an inter-disciplinary research team to undertake a secondary analysis examining the recommendations pharmacists made to GPs and whether they were actioned.
Development/validation of the Multimorbidity Treatment Burden Questionnaire (MTBQ) (2014-date)
I am first author for a study, nested within the 3D Study, to develop and validate this widely used measure of treatment burden. I have collaborated with researchers internationally to translate the MTBQ into Dutch, German, Amharic, Chinese, French and Arabic.
Publications
Recent publications
02/01/2025Estimating the burden of vaccine-preventable lower respiratory tract disease in UK primary care
BJGP Open
Further development and validation of the Multimorbidity Treatment Burden Questionnaire (MTBQ)
BMJ Open
Patient safety in actioning and communicating blood test results in primary care.
BMJ Open Quality
Exploration of reasons for primary care testing (the Why Test study)
British Journal of General Practice
Measurement of Treatment Burden in Patients with Multimorbidity in the Netherlands
Family Practice
Related people
Professor Penny Whiting
Professor of Clinical Epidemiology
Bristol Medical School (PHS)
Dr Sam Merriel
Honorary Senior Research Fellow
Bristol Medical School (PHS)
Dr Rachel Denholm
Senior Lecturer
Bristol Medical School (PHS)
Dr Deborah McCahon
Senior Research Fellow (IMPPP Trial Manager)
Bristol Medical School (PHS)
Dr Alex Burrell
NIHR In-Practice Clinical Research Fellow
Bristol Medical School (PHS)