Hayley Lowther-Payne

For my PhD research, I am working in partnership with Lancashire and South Cumbria NHS Foundation Trust to improve our understanding of inequalities in access to mental health services during the COVID-19 pandemic through the analysis of routinely collected mental health service data. I am particularly interested in exploring if lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT+) population groups, noted as traditionally underserved in the past, have had more or less access to services than expected. My research will involve data analysis methods to look at changes in service activity over time, map patient journeys, and explore the influence of patient characteristics and the pandemic. My PhD is funded by the NIHR Applied Research Collaboration North West Coast (ARC NWC), who I also work with as a Senior Research Assistant in the Implementation and Capacity Building Team (IMPaCT) based at the University of Central Lancashire (UCLan), adding an implementation lens to applied health research projects focused on addressing health inequalities.