Research Paper of the Year

PHI's Christian Blickem co-author on RCGP's Research Paper of the Year

The Royal College of General Practitioners (RCGP) has named a research study funded by the National Institute for Health Research Collaboration for Leadership in Applied Health Research and Care (NIHR CLAHRC) Greater Manchester as its Research Paper of the Year.

The award, which recognises an individual or group of researchers who have published an exceptional piece of research relating to general practice or primary care, went to a study whose authors included Dr Christian Blickem who is Teaching and Research Fellow in Public Health at Public Health Institute.

The paper, entitled ‘Non-disclosure of chronic kidney disease in primary care and the limits of instrumental rationality in chronic illness self-management’, was published in the journal Social Science & Medicine and explores how patients learn about and react to a diagnosis of early stage chronic kidney disease (CKD) – particularly as some GPs routinely register patients as early stage CKD but do not always fully disclose the diagnosis to their patient.

The partial or non-disclosure of diagnosis by GPs is at the heart of the paper. It raises questions over the purpose of CKD as diagnosis to support patient self-management. The rationale for incentivising GP practices to maintain a CKD register requires clarity for both clinicians and patients.