Primary Care & Health Sciences

I was brought up in Staffordshire and went to study Medicine at the University of Manchester. Following training to be a GP, I followed an academic career path and was awarded a personal Chair in Primary Care in 2009.

I took up a Chair at Keele as Professor of General Practice Research in September 2012. I have an Honorary Professorship at the University of Manchester.

The driving force behind my research is the doctor-patient relationship and how distress is recognized and dealt with in that interaction. Carolyn is a qualitative researcher and has published on GPs' attitudes to their work, particularly in the care of patients with distress, chronic illness and multiple symptoms (including pain), mental health and the elderly, and care across the primary/secondary interface.

Other externally funded work consists of developing and testing new interventions for patients with mental health problems in primary care. Some of this work has led to service change locally and nationally by influencing NICE guidelines, which is an important outcome of clinical research. 

I have been a GP Trainer and Course Organiser and led communication skills teaching in the University of Manchester curriculum. Currently I teach medical students within my practice and supervise student research projects. My role in teaching at Keele will be developing.

I am a GP partner in a practice in Central Manchester. I am RCGP Curriculum Champion, Mental Health, and a clinical advisor to RCGP on mental health issues. I am Associate Editor for the journal Health Expectations, and on Editorial Boards for Cutting Edge Psychiatry, International Journal of Family Practice and Nursing Education and Practice. I am currently on the Topic Group for the NICE guideline Self-Harm.