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Staff Profile

Graham Kirkwood

Senior Research Associate

  • Telephone: 0191 208 7626
  • Address: Population Health Sciences Institute
    Faculty of Medical Sciences
    Newcastle University
    Royal Victoria Infirmary
    (Sir James Spence Institute), 5th Floor
    Newcastle upon Tyne
    NE1 4LP
Background

Graham Kirkwood trained and worked as an NHS nurse in Norwich, England, working with people with learning difficulties from 1993 to 2002. Prior to that he was a computer analyst / programmer. Since studying for an MSc in Modern Epidemiology at Imperial College London in 2002/03 he has worked as a researcher in a number of areas involving evidence synthesis and data analysis of routine data sets. His two main topics of interest are injury and trauma and inequality in access to health care. He has worked with Professor Allyson Pollock on these issues for over 10 years, this has included extensive research into sport injury and concussion in children which continues.

He was on the Stakeholder Engagement Group for the new emergency care data set developed by the Royal College of Emergency Medicine in partnership with the NHS and has also worked closely with the Royal Society for the Prevention  of Accidents in the development of information packs, particularly on trampoline injury and injuries in the home in under 5s.

Areas of expertise

  • Access to health care and privatisation
  • Childhood injuries
  • Sport
  • Injury
  • Concussion
  • Head injuries



Research

1 - Access to NHS funded care, the role of policy changes and privatisation and the effect its use has on access inequalities

Kirkwood G, Pollock AM. The return of inverse care: Case study of elective hip surgery. Lancet Reg Health Eur. 2022;21:100495.

Kirkwood G, Pollock AM. Socioeconomic inequality, waiting time initiatives and austerity in Scotland: an interrupted time series analysis of elective hip and knee replacements and arthroscopies. J R Soc Med. 2022;115(10):399-407.

Kirkwood G, Buchan J, Pollock AM. Waiting Times for Cataract Surgery in Scotland since 2002 and the Effect of Austerity: An Interrupted Time Series Analysis. Ophthalmic Epidemiol. 2022:1-8.

Sutaria S, Kirkwood G, Pollock AM. An ecological study of NHS funded elective hip arthroplasties in England from 2003/04 to 2012/13. J R Soc Med. 2019;112(7):292-303.

Kirkwood G, Pollock AM. Patient choice and private provision decreased public provision and increased inequalities in Scotland: a case study of elective hip arthroplasty. J Public Health (Oxf). 2017;39(3):593-600.

Kirkwood G, Pollock AM, Howie C, Wild S. NHS Scotland reduces the postcode lottery for hip arthroplasty: an ecological study of the impact of waiting time initiatives. J R Soc Med. 2014;107(6):237-45.

Pollock A, Macfarlane A, Kirkwood G, Majeed FA, Greener I, Morelli C, et al. No evidence that patient choice in the NHS saves lives. Lancet. 2011;378(9809):2057-60.

Pollock A, Majeed A, Macfarlane A, Greener I, Kirkwood G, Mellett H, et al. In defence of our research on competition in England's National Health Service Reply. Lancet. 2011;378(9809):2065-6.

Pollock AM, Godden S, Kirkwood G. Equity and NHS reforms. What about independent sector treatment centres? Bmj. 2009;339:b4255.

Pollock AM, Godden S, Kirkwood G. No consideration given to lack of, and poor quality data from ISTCs. Bmj [Internet]. 03 Sep 2009; Rapid Responses. Available from: http://www.bmj.com/content/339/bmj.b3264/rapid-responses.

Pollock AM, Kirkwood G. Independent sector treatment centres: learning from a Scottish case study. Bmj. 2009;338:b1421.

Pollock AM, Kirkwood G. Independent sector treatment centres: the first independent evaluation, a Scottish case study. J R Soc Med. 2009;102(7):278-86.

Pollock AM, Kirkwood G. Evaluation of contract in ISTCs. J R Soc Med. 2009;102(12):505-6.


2 - Injury and trauma, using routinely collected data to understand mechanism of injury and to inform injury prevention.

Pollock AM, White AJ, Kirkwood G. Evidence in support of the call to ban the tackle and harmful contact in school rugby: a response to World Rugby. 2017; 51:1108-1113.

Kirkwood G, Hughes TC, Pollock AM. Unintentional injury in England: an analysis of the emergency care data set pilot in Oxfordshire from 2012 to 2014. Journal of epidemiology and community health. 2017;71(3):289-95.

Pollock AM, Kirkwood G. Removing contact from school rugby will not turn children into couch potatoes. British Journal of Sports Medicine. Online First, published on April 19, 2016 as 10.1136/bjsports-2016-096220.

Freitag A, Kirkwood G, Pollock AM. Rugby injury surveillance and prevention programmes: are they effective? British Medical Journal. 2015;350:h1587.

Smith D, Kirkwood G, Pott J, Kourita L, Jessop V, Pollock AM. Childhood injury in Tower Hamlets: Audit of children presenting with injury to an inner city A&E department in London. Injury. 2015;46(6):1131-6.

Kirkwood G, Parekh N, Ofori-Asenso R, Pollock AM. Concussion in youth rugby union and rugby league: a systematic review. British Journal of Sports Medicine. 2015; 49(8):506-10.

Freitag A, Kirkwood G, Scharer S, Ofori-Asenso R, Pollock AM. Systematic review of rugby injuries in children and adolescents under 21 years. British Journal of Sports Medicine. 2015;49(8):511-9.

Kirkwood G, Hughes TC, Pollock AM. Injury surveillance in Europe and the UK. British Medical Journal. 2014;349:g5337.

Kourita L, Jameson JD, Kirkwood G, Smith D, Pollock AM. Childhood injury in Tower Hamlets, one of the most deprived inner-city London boroughs: prospective audit data from the Royal London Hospital. Lancet (Conference Abstracts) 2013. Volume 382, Special Issue, S54

Parekh N, Hodges SD, Pollock AM, Kirkwood G. Communicating the risk of injury in schoolboy rugby: using Poisson probability as an alternative presentation of the epidemiology. British Journal of Sports Medicine. 2012; 46(8):611-3.

Jen MH, Bottle A, Kirkwood G, Johnston R, Aylin P. The performance of automated case-mix adjustment regression model building methods in a health outcome prediction setting. Health Care Management Science. 2011;14(3):267-78.

Nicol A, Pollock A, Kirkwood G, Parekh N, Robson J. Rugby union injuries in Scottish schools. Journal of Public Health. 2011;33(2):256-61.

Kirkwood G, Parekh N, Pollock AM. Preventing injury in children and adolescents. Trauma 2010; 12(4): 221-38.

Kirkwood G, Pollock A. Preventing injury in childhood. British Medical Journal. 2008; 336: 1388-9.


3/ Other

Aylin P, Bottle A, Kirkwood G, Bell D. Trends in hospital admissions for pulmonary embolism in England: 1996/7 to 2005/6. Clinical Medicine. 2008; 8(4): 388-92.


Pilkington K, Stenhouse E, Kirkwood G, Richardson J. Diabetes and complementary therapies: mapping the evidence. Practical Diabetes International. 2007; 24(7): 371-376.


Howard LM, Kirkwood G, Latinovic R. Sudden infant death syndrome and maternal depression. The Journal of Clinical Psychiatry. 2007; 68(8): 1279-83.


Howard L, Kirkwood G, Leese M. Risk of hip fracture in patients with a history of schizophrenia. The British Journal of Psychiatry. 2007; 190: 129-34.


Pilkington K, Kirkwood G, Rampes H, Cummings M, Richardson J. Acupuncture for anxiety and anxiety disorders--a systematic literature review. Acupuncture in Medicine. 2007; 25(1-2):1-10.


Pilkington K, Kirkwood G, Rampes H, Fisher P, Richardson J. Homeopathy for anxiety and anxiety disorders: a systematic review of the research. Homeopathy. 2006; 95(3):151-62.


Kirkwood G, Rampes H, Tuffrey V, Richardson J, Pilkington K. Yoga for anxiety: a systematic review of the research evidence. British Journal of Sports Medicine. 2005; 39(12):884-91.


Pilkington K, Kirkwood G, Rampes H, Richardson J. Yoga for depression: the research evidence. Journal of Affective Disorders. 2005;89(1-3):13-24.


Pilkington K, Kirkwood G, Rampes H, Fisher P, Richardson J. Homeopathy for depression: a systematic review of the research evidence. Homeopathy. 2005; 94(3):153-63.


Kirkwood G, Pilkington K. Homeopathy for depression and anxiety – comparing the evidence. Proceedings of the Developing Research Strategies Conference published in Complementary Therapies in Medicine 2004; 12:151.



Contributions to other articles and briefings


Time to tackle the issue of head injuries. Graham Kirkwood and Allyson Pollock. Public Health Today, the magazine of the UK Faculty of Public Health. Summer 2016. p13.


Evidence submitted to the Sport Duty of Care Review: call for evidence from the Department for Culture, Media & Sport by Prof Allyson M Pollock & Graham Kirkwood Queen Mary University of London 23 May 2016. See http://www.allysonpollock.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/AP_2016_Pollock_ResponseToDutyOfCare.pdf


Action on accidents. To relieve pressure on A&E. Factsheet produced by Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA) and the Royal College of Emergency Medicine (RCEM) for a programme to reduce unintentional (accidental) injuries to under-5s. See http://www.c4ts.qmul.ac.uk/main/latest-news/post/25-need-for-a-uk-wide-under-5s-injury-reduction-programand http://www.rospa.com/RoSPAWeb/docs/advice-services/public-health/action-on-accidents-factsheet-scotland.pdf


RoSPA Garden Trampoline Safety Advice http://www.rospa.com/rospaweb/docs/advice-services/leisure-safety/garden-trampolining.pdf


UK Parliament Health Select Committee Inquiry into the impact of physical activity and diet on health. 18 Dec 2014. See http://data.parliament.uk/WrittenEvidence/CommitteeEvidence.svc/EvidenceDocument/Health/Impact%20of%20physical%20activity%20and%20diet%20on%20health/written/16851.html


Pollock AM, Kirkwood G. Briefing for the Chief Medical Officer on child and adolescent injury surveillance in Scotland and sport. 5th March 2008.


Kirkwood G. Good Health. Review of ¡Salud! directed by Connie Field. The International Journal of Cuban Studies. 2008; 1(1): 131.


Hilton S, Kirkwood G. Review of “The Political Economy of Health Care - by Tudor Hart. Journal of Sociology of Health and Illness 2008; 30(4): 649-50 http://www.blackwell-synergy.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1467-9566.2008.1085_3.x


Response to the Scottish Government’s consultation on "Glasgow 2014 ‐Delivering a Lasting Legacy for Scotland". Pollock AM, Kirkwood G. 5th May 2008.


Response to the Scottish Government’s consultation on “Taking Forward The Government Economic Strategy: A Discussion Paper On Tackling Poverty, Inequality And Deprivation In Scotland”. Pollock AM, Kirkwood G. 30th June 2008.

Publications