
Professor Alastair Hay
MB.ChB (Sheff), M.D.(Leic.), M.R.C.P., D.C.H.(RCP), M.R.C.G.P., D.F.F.P., F.H.E.A.
Expertise
Current positions
Professor of Primary Care
Bristol Medical School (PHS)
Contact
Press and media
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Research interests
Primary care is the first point of contact for, and manages the vast majority of, patients with infectious disease. Primary care is also responsible for over 80% of all health service antibiotic use. Antimicrobial resistance is at the top of the international public health agenda and is responsible for over 30,000 premature deaths in Europe annually. The CAPC infection group conducts internationally recognised research to improve the management of acute infections and the use of antibiotics in primary care. We use mixed methods and collaborate with a wide range of disciplinary experts to conduct research in five areas:
1. To develop and evaluate the clinical and cost effectiveness of interventions promoting self-care of infections at home
2. To improve the targeting and effective use of antibiotics
3. To investigate the relationship between primary care prescribed antibiotics and antimicrobial resistance
4. To develop and evaluate the clinical and cost effectiveness of interventions to reduce the severity of infection associated symptoms
5. To understand the social and cultural influences on the management of infections by clinicians, patients and carers, including health care utilisation, prescribing practices, and clinician-patient/carer communication.
I lead a 15 strong group, who include two Research Fellows, a Trial Manager, three Research Associates/Assistants, a Research Nurse, a PhD student, an Executive Assistant and five Research Administrators. Together, our success is built on the talent and commitment of our staff; our focus on impactful applied health research with high quality publications; our inter-disciplinary links within the School of Social and Community Medicine and across the University of Bristol; and our collaborative links with like-minded researchers at the Universities of Oxford, Southampton and Cardiff. With these three centres, we have an active multicentre research portfolio of nine studies valued at £14M, three of which are led by Bristol and valued at £4.4M, with a further £1.4M of Bristol-only led research.
Projects and supervisions
Research projects
Remembering everyday healthcare c.1940-1970: Testing a novel interdisciplinary methodology
Principal Investigator
Role
Co-Investigator
Description
A project to test how to collect of older people's memories of healthcare from 1940-1970. This builds on previous work of using historical images of items and places to…Managing organisational unit
Bristol Medical School (PHS)Dates
12/05/2023 to 31/07/2023
Visualising the past: Exploring a data driven approach to investigate and view digitised historical archives.
Principal Investigator
Role
Principal Investigator
Description
The aim of this project is to explore the use of data visualisation to improve interrogation and understanding of complex text-based historical data. This proposed project sits within a larger…Managing organisational unit
Bristol Medical School (PHS)Dates
01/01/2022 to 04/07/2022
8356 - OAFI - [BRTC] Air Filtration to reduce Respiratory Infections in older people’s care homes (AFRI-c)
Principal Investigator
Managing organisational unit
Bristol Medical School (PHS)Dates
01/07/2021 to 31/12/2024
Can the past inform the present? Exploring attitudes and approaches to the management of common infections
Principal Investigator
Role
Co-Investigator
Managing organisational unit
Bristol Medical School (PHS)Dates
01/03/2020 to 31/07/2021
From Folk to Pharma: Unlocking the medicine cabinet to understand lay approaches for managing common infections in the past and present
Role
Co-Principal Investigator
Description
In 1929 Alexander Fleming discovered penicillin, but the importance of this first antibiotic was not fully realised until the early 1940s when large scale manufacturing processes were developed. This…Managing organisational unit
Bristol Medical School (PHS)Dates
09/01/2020 to 31/07/2020
Thesis supervisions
Publications
Recent publications
16/03/2023How data visualisation using historical medical journals can contribute to current debates around antibiotic use and antimicrobial resistance in primary care
Clinical effectiveness of point of care tests for diagnosing urinary tract infection: a systematic review
Clinical Microbiology and Infection
Comparing GPs’ antibiotic prescribing decisions to a clinical prediction rule
British Journal of General Practice
Determining the clinical and cost-effectiveness of nasal sprays and a physical activity and stress management intervention to reduce respiratory tract infections in primary care
PLoS ONE
Effectiveness of analgesic ear drops as add-on treatment to oral analgesics in children with acute otitis media
BMJ Open