Sarah is a senior leader with expertise in health and care strategy, research, innovation, improvement and clinical audit. Sarah has a pragmatic, reflective and facilitative style and loves networking and meeting like-minded people who embrace patient centred approaches, change and innovation.
Sarah is currently Head of Research and Innovation at NHS Dorset Integrated Care Board (ICB), providing facilitative advice, tailored support for prioritised research and innovation projects, resources and tools, and the innovation education programme run in partnership with Health Sciences University. Sarah is also Lead for the Dorset Innovation Hub (hosted by NHS Dorset) and is responsible for the strategic oversight of the system partnership working and delivery. To find out more go to: Innovation – Our Dorset ICS Innovation
Sarah uses over thirty years’ experience working in local and national roles to support her system wide thinking approach through the golden thread of quality including: research, innovation, clinical audit, improvement and clinical ethics. Sarah advocates patient centred care using near-real time feedback and considers that the golden thread of quality is integral to all health and care staffs’ roles and central to enabling patient centred approaches. Sarah encourages facilitative approaches to projects, advocating the use of the ‘right approach, involving the right people, right tool and at the right time’ to enable change to be undertaken to improve the outcomes and experiences of patients where necessary.
Sarah is a post graduate researcher, undertaking her doctoral research with Bournemouth University focused on patient centred sustainable near-real time feedback. Sarah is the chief investigator for the CREATE study (A mixed-methods Critical Realist evaluation of the Effect over time of near real-time feedback measures on patients as part of an organisational Approach To improving patient outcomes and Experience). The CREATE study commenced in September 2025 with planned completion completing in August 2026. Sarah was also the principal investigator for the research study “An evaluation of a real-time survey for improving patients’ experiences of the relational aspects of care (After Francis)” and has published the paper Staff perspectives of a near-real time feedback intervention to improve patient experiences.
Sarah is a research fellow in the Centre for Workforce Systems and Innovation (CWSI), Health Sciences University. Sarah has a BA in Post Compulsory Education (Southampton University (2006)) and completed the Ashridge National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Leadership Programme (2017).
28th December 2025
