Dr Ben Fletcher BSc MPH DPhil

Ben Fletcher

Department of Applied Health Sciences
Honorary Research Fellow

Contact details

Telephone
+44 (0)121 414 7365
Email
b.r.fletcher.2@bham.ac.uk
View my research portal
Address
Murray Learning Centre
University of Birmingham
Edgbaston
Birmingham
B15 2TT
UK

Ben joined the Centre for Patient Reported Outcomes Research (CPROR) in November 2019 to work on a three year project funded by Kidney Research UK.  The objective of the project is to develop a new electronic questionnaire to measure patient outcomes and improve the management of kidney diseases.

Ben has an interest in mixed-methods research, particularly stated preference studies.

Qualifications

  • DPhil in Primary Care Health Sciences, University of Oxford, 2017
  • Masters in Public Health (MPH), University of Birmingham, 2011
  • BSc (Hons) in Biological Sciences, Lancaster University, 2004

Biography

Previously Ben was a National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) School for Primary Care Research (SPCR) Launching Fellow (2017-2019)

Ben’s doctoral research at the University of Oxford (2013-2017) investigated how patients with hypertension who measure their own blood pressure have better outcomes than those who do not.

Prior to his doctorate, Ben was funded as a NIHR Methods Fellow at the University of Birmingham (2010-2013), and during this time his research focussed on improving recruitment to clinical trials.  He also completed a Masters in Public Health (MPH) during this fellowship. 

Research

Current research into creating multidimensional computer adaptive test (MCAT) for symptom tracking in patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD).  Research will involve a rapid review of previous outcome measures to identify domains and items that have been included in prior CKD patient reported outcome measures (PROMs).  Interviews with patients and clinicians will be conducted to refine the list of items from the review, and identify any gaps.  The list of items will be further refined using psychometric testing, before the final list is used to develop the MCAT.

https://www.birmingham.ac.uk/research/activity/mds/centres/cpror/index.aspx

Publications

H-index = 13; total publications = 31; total citations = 829. (* indicates role as corresponding author)

*Fletcher BR, Hinton L, McManus R, Rivero-Arias O.  Patient preferences for management of high blood pressure in the UK: a discrete choice experiment.  British Journal of General Practice (2019)

Fletcher BR, Rowe R, Hollowell J, Scanlon M, Hinton L, Rivero-Arias O.  Exploring women’s preferences for birth settings in England: a discrete choice experiment. PLOS ONE (2019)

*Fletcher BR, Hinton L, Bray EP, Hayen A, Hobbs FDR, Mant J, Potter JF, McManus RJ.  Self-monitoring blood pressure in hypertension – internet based survey of UK general practitioners.  British Journal of General Practice (2016)

*Fletcher BR, Hinton L, Hartmann-Boyce J, Roberts NW, Bobrovitz N, McManus RJ.  Self-monitoring blood pressure in hypertension, patient and provider perspectives: a systematic review and thematic synthesis.  Patient Education and Counseling (2015)

H-index = 13; total publications = 31; total citations = 829. (* indicates role as corresponding author)

*Fletcher BR, Hinton L, McManus R, Rivero-Arias O.  Patient preferences for management of high blood pressure in the UK: a discrete choice experiment.  British Journal of General Practice (2019)

Fletcher BR, Rowe R, Hollowell J, Scanlon M, Hinton L, Rivero-Arias O.  Exploring women’s preferences for birth settings in England: a discrete choice experiment. PLOS ONE (2019)

*Fletcher BR, Hinton L, Bray EP, Hayen A, Hobbs FDR, Mant J, Potter JF, McManus RJ.  Self-monitoring blood pressure in hypertension – internet based survey of UK general practitioners.  British Journal of General Practice (2016)

*Fletcher BR, Hinton L, Hartmann-Boyce J, Roberts NW, Bobrovitz N, McManus RJ.  Self-monitoring blood pressure in hypertension, patient and provider perspectives: a systematic review and thematic synthesis.  Patient Education and Counseling (2015)

*Fletcher BR, Hartmann-Boyce J, Hinton L, McManus RJ.  The effect of self-monitoring of blood pressure on medication adherence and lifestyle factors: a systematic review and meta-analysis.  American Journal of Hypertension (2015)

*Ben Fletcher, Adrian Gheorghe, David Moore, Sue Wilson, Sarah Damery.  Improving the recruitment activity of clinicians in randomized controlled trials – a systematic review.  BMJ Open; 2 e000496(2012)

Bobrovitz N, Heneghan C, Onakpoyo I, Fletcher B, Collins D, et al Medications that reduce emergency hospital admissions: an overview of systematic reviews and prioritization of treatments.  BMC Medicine (2018)

Sheppard JP, Albasri A, Franssen M, Fletcher B, Pealing L, et al.  Defining the relationship between arm and leg blood pressure readings: a systematic review and meta-analysis.  Journal of Hypertension (2018)

Hartmann-Boyce J, Boylan AM, Jebb S, Fletcher BR, Aveyard P.  Cognitive and behavioural strategies for self-directed weight loss: systematic review of qualitative studies.  Obesity Reviews (2016)

Mackley MP, Fletcher BR, Parker M, Watkins H, Ormondroyd E.  Stakeholder views on secondary findings in whole-genome and whole-exome sequencing: a systematic review of quantitative and qualitative studies.  Nature Genetics in Medicine (2016)

Sheppard JP, Fletcher BR, Gill P, Martin U, McManus RJ.  Predictors of the home-clinic blood pressure difference.  American Journal of Hypertension (2015)

Hartmann-Boyce J, Jebb, SA, Fletcher BR, Aveyard P.  Self-help for weight loss in overweight and obese adults: systematic review and meta-analysis.  American Journal of Public Health (2015)

Kyte D, Duffy H, Fletcher B, Gheorghe A, Mercieca-Bieber R, King M, Draper H, Ives J, Brundage M, Blazeby J, Calvert M.  Systematic evaluation of the patient-reported outcome (PRO) content of clinical trial protocols.  PLOS ONE (2014)

Moran G, Fletcher B, Feltham M, Calvert M, Sackley C, Marshall T.  Fatigue, psychosocial and cognitive impairment following TIA and minor stroke: a systematic review.  European Journal of Neurology (2014)

Pinkney TD, McCall J, Dumville JC, Edwards FJ, Gheorghe A, Bartlett DC, Fletcher BR, Calvert MJ.  Wound-edge protection devices for preventing surgical site infection in abdominal surgery (Protocol).  Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews. Issue 6, article number CD010614 (2013).

Clarke J, Fletcher B, Lancashire E, Adab PA.  The views of stakeholders on the primary school in preventing childhood obesity; a qualitative systematic review.  Obesity Reviews 12: 975-988 (2013)

Gheorghe A, Roberts TE, Fletcher BR, Calvert M.  How are centres included in randomised controlled trials with parallel economic evaluations in the UK?  Value Health 16 (3) A51 (2013)

Gheorghe A, Roberts TE, Ives JC, Fletcher BR, Calvert M.  Centre selection for clinical trials and the generalisability of results: a mixed methods study.  PLOS ONE 8: e56560 (2013)

Gheorghe A, Calvert M, Pinkney T, Fletcher B, Youssef H, Morton D, Wilson S.  Systematic review of the clinical effectiveness of wound-edge protection devices in reducing surgical site infection in patients undergoing open abdominal surgery.  Annals of Surgery; 255 (6) 1017-1029 (2012)

D Park, CJ Weinman, JA Finlay, BR Fletcher, MY Paik, HS Sundaram, MD Dimitriou, KE Sohn, ME Callow, JA Callow, DL Handlin, CL Willis, DA Fischer, EJ Kramer, CK Ober - Amphiphilic Surface Active Triblock Copolymers with Mixed Hydrophobic and Hydrophilic Side Chains for Tuned Marine Fouling-Release Properties.  Langmuir; 26 (12): 9772-9781 (2010)

Finlay John A; BR Fletcher; Callow Maureen E; Callow James A – Effect of background colour on growth and adhesion strength of Ulva sporelings.  Biofouling; 24 (3): 219-225 (2008)

CJ Weinman; JA Finlay; D Park; MY Paik; S Krishnan; BR Fletcher; ME Callow; JA Callow; DL Handlin; CL Willis; DA Fischer; KE Sohn; EJ Kramer; CK Ober - Antifouling ABC Triblock Copolymers with Grafted Functionality.  Polym. Mater Sci. Eng. Preprints; 98: 639-641 (2008)

View all publications in research portal