


We want people who have suffered major trauma to have the chance to influence research and the future of trauma care. Day One is highly respected for its work in this field and works with some key partners to influence the future of care for major trauma patients.
Ongoing research
Are you a young adult aged 16-30 years old who has recently experienced traumatic injury?
We are looking for people who may be interested in participating in a research study, to understand how young adults psychologically adjust to their experiences of traumatic injury. You will be invited to participate in an interview with Liam (Chief Investigator) for around 30-90 minutes to discuss your injuries and how life has been for you following traumatic injury.
As a thank you for participating, you will receive a £15 GiftPay voucher which can be used at a wide range of retailers.
If you are interested in participating in this research or require further information, you can either;
We are interested in people who have had complex fractures following a traumatic injury. Complex fractures are badly broken bones requiring specialist treatment in hospital. The different types of complex fractures are shown in the picture below.
We want to know what rehabilitation people with complex fractures need and how best this can be delivered. We need your help to design a rehabilitation programme to improve recovery and outcomes after complex fractures. The study’s results will be used to help inform clinical practice and develop a rehabilitation programme designed to meet people’s needs.
Please contact the lead researcher, Lucy Silvester, if you would like to take part or if you have any questions email: silvesterl@coventry.ac.uk
or telephone: 02476 967582 (please leave your name and contact number)
Key organisations
The James Lind Alliance (JLA) is a non-profit making initiative bringing patients, carers and clinicians together in JLA Priority Setting Partnerships (PSPs). The JLA PSPs identify and prioritise unanswered questions or evidence uncertainties that they agree are the most important, so that health research funders are aware of the issues that matter most to the people who need to use the research in their everyday lives.
A group of Day One Peer Support Volunteers with lived experience of major trauma, and Day One Trustee Dr Louise Johnson contributed through steering groups to a three-year research project published in the British Medical Journal Open. The study determines the top research priorities for the management of major trauma.
"We discussed a huge number of possible research projects that could be undertaken to investigate areas of best practice for patients who had suffered a major traumatic injury. I felt a little daunted meeting the doctors and healthcare professionals at first, but the JLA chairperson and the lead clinicians were very keen to ensure that everyone's opinion was equal.
"Overall, I felt that I had contributed, in a small way, to let the professionals know what it is like to have suffered an injury and to let them know what I, as a patient, felt was important to me and so could let them know what I considered would be valuable research, for example pain management before getting to hospital." - Scott Johnston, Day One Peer Support Volunteer and study participant
It is vital that rehabilitation forms a core part of NHS future planning. The government must make a commitment to rehabilitation as an equal pillar of health care to medicines and surgery. That’s why we're supporting the #RightToRehab campaign and have signed a letter to the main political parties urging the government to prioritise NHS rehab.
The Collaborative Library is an organisation that aims to link up people who do scientific research and those who are interested in the outcomes to spread the word and drive innovation. The lay summaries of papers on the Collaborative Library website are a fantastic way for patients to engage with scientific research that’s relevant to them. Day One became a partner organisation of The Collaborative Library in February 2023 to help produce lay summaries of research around major trauma.
Find out more and access lay summariesDay One has represented the ‘patient voice’ at the British Orthopaedic Association (BOA) national trauma committee. We have also been invited to recent BOA Annual Congresses. CEO Lucy Nickson presented to the BOA annual congress in 2022 on the patient voice and the experience of major trauma patients after surgery. We presented our Dear Me campaign during Major Trauma Awareness Week at the 2024 congress.
Find out more about the BOATrauma Care was founded in 1996 to address the need for commonly agreed standards of the best clinical practice in the management of trauma. They aim to improve the outcome of trauma victims by establishing best practice throughout the whole chain of care. They achieve this through education, research and publishing. Day One partners with Trauma Care to deliver education, for example a joint webinar for trauma professionals during Major Trauma Awareness Week 2024.
Visit the Trauma Care websiteResearch we have supported
Day One supported Sophie Bradshaw's phenomenological study with four peer support volunteers. Five themes were created: Links in the Chain, Navigating being a Success Story, Post-traumatic Growth, Companionship and The Value of Lived Experience.
Download the research posterThis study was completed as part of Ellie Grant's clinical psychology doctorate at Teeside University. Day One supported the study by helping to recruit peer supporters to participate
Download the research poster…we have a small favour to ask.
More people than ever need Day One’s support, but we don’t have the income to keep up with demand.
We’re determined to help people rebuild their lives after a catastrophic injury, wherever they are in the country.
If this page has inspired or moved you, please consider chipping in to help. We can achieve great things with you by our side, so please consider supporting Day One.
You can give as little as £1 – and it only takes a minute. Thank you.