Dr Beck Taylor BMedSc, MBChB, MPH, FFPH, PhD

Beck Taylor

Institute of Applied Health Research
Clinical Senior Lecturer
Honorary Consultant in Public Health

Contact details

Telephone
+44 (0)121 414 2848
Email
r.taylor.3@bham.ac.uk
Twitter
@BeckTaylorBham
View my research portal
Address
Murray Learning Centre
University of Birmingham
Edgbaston
Birmingham
B15 2TT

Beck is a Clinical Senior Lecturer working on the Maternity Theme of the NIHR West Midlands ARC programme. She is also an Honorary Consultant at Public Health England. Her research focuses on evaluating maternity services and policy, working in collaboration with women and staff. As a public health doctor she is trained to think at population and system-level. She has skills in qualitative and quantitative research and evaluation and evidence synthesis, designing research which matches the method to the research question.

Interests include:

  • Organisation and improvement of health systems, particularly in maternity.
  • The role of the workforce in health improvement, particularly the role of midwives, community health workers and paraprofessionals. 
  • Inequalities and health improvement in maternal and child health.

Qualifications

  • PhD 2016
  • FFPH 2015
  • Higher Education Academy Associate 2013
  • MPH 2007
  • MBChB 2003
  • BMedSc 2001

Biography

Beck qualified in medicine, working in a range of specialties before moving into clinical public health in roles across the East and West Midlands. She joined the University of Birmingham in 2009 to work on an NIHR-funded national evaluation, and undertake a doctorate focusing on the role of community health workers, alongside completing specialist training in public health.   

Since 2014 Beck has worked on Maternity Theme of the West Midlands NIHR CLAHRC and ARC programmes, working with maternity services, staff and women to improve services, outcomes and policy. She is also involved in a number of nationally-funded research projects. 

Her focus is on real-world evaluation and implementation of health improvement interventions, pathways and policies in complex health systems, including the use of rapid methods to deliver findings quickly.

Teaching

Postgraduate supervision

Beck is available to supervise PhD students in areas related to her current research interests.

Research

Key research interests include maternity and child health, health service organisation and policy, and public health. 

Current/recent work includes:

- NIHR ARC projects to explore, evaluate and improve:

- Neonatal jaundice pathways

- 24-7 obstetrician presence on the labour ward

- Early postnatal discharge

- Midwife perspectives of continuity-based models of care

-Impact of COVID-19 on postnatal care

  • The effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of Assets-based feeding help Before and After birth (ABA-feed trial) (NIHR PHR)
  • Local Authority Research Systems: identifying the capacity and infrastructure needs of Birmingham City Council (NIHR PHR)
  • Tackling Multimorbidity at Scale MuM-PreDiCT (UKRI/NIHR)
  • Achieving closure?  Improving outcomes when care homes close. (NIHR Programme Grant)
  • Evaluation of policy-driven local transformation of maternity services (NHS-funded)

Other activities

  • Honorary consultant contract held with Public Health England (since 2017)

Publications

Recent publications

Article

Macdonald, C, MacGregor, B, Hillman, S, MacArthur, C, Bick, D & Taylor, B 2023, 'Qualitative systematic review of general practitioners' (GPs') views and experiences of providing postnatal care', BMJ open, vol. 13, no. 4, e070005. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2022-070005

Olateju , Z, Olufunlayo, T, MacArthur, C, Leung , C & Taylor, B 2022, 'Community health workers experiences and perceptions of working during the COVID-19 pandemic in Lagos, Nigeria - A qualitative study', PLOS One, vol. 17, no. 3, e0265092. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0265092

Lee, S, Azcoaga-Lorenzo, A, Agrawal, U, Kennedy, JI, FAGBAMIGBE, AF, Hope, HF, Subramanian, A, Anand, A, Taylor, B, Nelson-Piercy, C, DAMASE-MICHEL, C, Yau, C, Crowe, F, SANTORELLI, G, Eastwood, K-A, VOWLES, Z, LOANE, M, Moss, N, Brocklehurst, P, Plachcinski, R, Thangaratinam, S, Black, M, O'Reilly, D, Abel, KM, Brophy, S, Nirantharakumar, K, McCowan, C & on behalf of the MuM-PreDiCT Group 2022, 'Epidemiology of pre-existing multimorbidity in pregnant women in the UK in 2018: a population-based cross-sectional study', BMC pregnancy and childbirth, vol. 22, 120 . https://doi.org/10.1186/s12884-022-04442-3

Leung, C, Olufunlayo, T, Olateju, Z, Macarthur, C & Taylor, B 2022, 'Perceptions and experiences of maternity care workers during COVID-19 pandemic in Lagos State, Nigeria; a qualitative study', BMC Health Services Research, vol. 22, no. 1, 606. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12913-022-08009-y

Curry, L, Ayedun, A, Cherlin, E, Taylor, B, Castle-clarke, S & Linnander, E 2022, 'The role of leadership in times of systems disruption: a qualitative study of health and social care integration', BMJ open, vol. 12, no. 5, pp. e054847. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2021-054847

Taylor, B, Hewison, A, Cross-sudworth, F & Morrell, K 2022, 'Transformational Change in maternity services in England: a longitudinal qualitative study of a national transformation programme ‘Early Adopter’', BMC Health Services Research, vol. 22, no. 1, 57. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12913-021-07375-3

Morad, S, Pitches, D, Girling, A, Taylor, B, Fradd, V, MacArthur, C & Kenyon, S 2021, '24 hour consultant obstetrician presence on the labour ward and intrapartum outcomes in a large unit in England: a time series analysis', PLOS One, vol. 16, no. 3, e0249233. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0249233

Guo, P, Xu, D, Liew, Z, He, H, Brocklehurst, P, Taylor, B, Zhang, C, Jin, X & Gong, W 2021, 'Adherence to traditional Chinese postpartum practices and postpartum depression: a cross-sectional study in Hunan, China', Frontiers in Psychiatry, vol. 12, 649972. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyt.2021.649972

Kokab, F, Jones, E, Goodwin, L, Taylor, B & Kenyon, S 2021, 'Community Midwives views of postnatal care in the UK; a descriptive qualitative study', Midwifery, vol. 104, 103183. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.midw.2021.103183

Gardiner, E, Lai, JF, Khanna, D, Meza, G, De Wildt, G, Taylor, B & Kiguli, J (ed.) 2021, 'Exploring women’s decisions of where to give birth in the Peruvian Amazon; why do women continue to give birth at home? A qualitative study', PLOS One, vol. 16, no. 9, e0257135. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0257135

Lee, SI, Eastwood, K-A, Moss, N, Azcoaga-Lorenzo, A, Subramanian, A, Anand, A, Taylor, B, Nelson-Piercy, C, Yau, C, McCowan, C, O'Reilly, D, Hope, H, Kennedy, JI, Abel, KM, Locock, L, Brocklehurst, P, Plachcinski, R, Brophy, S, Agrawal, U, Thangaratinam, S, Nirantharakumar, K & Black, M 2021, 'Protocol for the development of a core outcome set for studies of pregnant women with pre-existing multimorbidity', BMJ open, vol. 11, no. 10, e044919, pp. e044919. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2020-044919

Yu , M, Gong, W, Taylor, B, Cai , Y & Xu , D 2020, 'Coping styles in pregnancy, their demographic and psychological influences, and their association with postpartum depression: a longitudinal study of women in China', International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, vol. 17, no. 10, 3654. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph17103654

Jones, E, Taylor, B, MacArthur, C, Bradshaw, S, Hope, L & Cummins, C 2020, 'Early postnatal discharge for infants: a meta-analysis', Pediatrics, vol. 146, no. 2, e20193365. https://doi.org/10.1542/peds.2019-3365

Bradshaw, S, Bem, D, Shaw, K, Taylor, B, Chiswell, C, Salama, M, Bassett, E & Cummins, C 2019, 'G127(P) Scoping review: improving health, wellbeing and parenting skills in parents of children with medical complexity and special health care needs', Archives of Disease in Childhood. https://doi.org/10.1136/archdischild-2019-rcpch.123

Review article

Jones, E, Stewart, F, Taylor, B, Davis, PG & Brown, SJ 2021, 'Early postnatal discharge from hospital for healthy mothers and term infants', The Cochrane Library, vol. 2021, no. 6, CD002958. https://doi.org/10.1002/14651858.CD002958.pub2

View all publications in research portal