Professor Jo Ellins

Professor Jo Ellins

Health Services Management Centre
Professor of Health Services Research
Departmental PhD lead

Contact details

Telephone
+44(0)121 414 8981
Email
j.l.ellins@bham.ac.uk
View my research portal
Address
School of Social Policy and Society, HSMC
Park House
University of Birmingham
Edgbaston
Birmingham
B15 2RT, United Kingdom

Jo Ellins is Professor of Health Services Research. She has more than 25 years’ experience of applied health services research and evaluation, including as Deputy Director of the NIHR BRACE Rapid Evaluation Centre (2018-2022). She has particular expertise in qualitative research, theory-based evaluation and participatory approaches. Above all, Jo is interested in people’s experiences of ill health and of accessing and using services and support, and what can be learned from this to inform quality and service improvement.

A more recent focus of her research has been youth mental health, in particular the role of schools in supporting children’s mental health and wellbeing. Between 2019 and 2022, Jo led an early national evaluation of a programme to implement the proposals set out in the government’s Transforming Children and Young People’s Mental Health Provision green paper. The programme is investing in school-based prevention and early intervention for mental health, including creating mental health support teams to work in and with schools and further education colleges. She is now co-leading a follow-on evaluation to assess the programme’s impact and cost-effectiveness.

Qualifications

  • D.Phil Sociology, University of Sussex, 2005
  • MA Social and Political Thought, University of Sussex, 2000
  • BA Social and Political Sciences, University of Cambridge, 1997

Biography

Jo re-joined the Health Services Management Centre as Senior Fellow in 2017, having previously worked at HSMC (2007-2013) as a Research Fellow and lecturer. Before and in between her time at HSMC, she was a Senior Managing Consultant at the research consultancy ICF, where she was part of a team specialising in health services evaluation. She was also an organisational development manager at the NHS Centre for Involvement, and a research associate at the Picker Institute where she led a programme of work on redesigning support for people with long-term conditions. Jo’s PhD, in medical sociology, explored the factors responsible for the explosion in prescribing of three high profile pharmaceutical drugs: Prozac, Ritalin and Viagra, using her analysis to critically examine the value and limitations of sociological theories of ‘medicalisation’.

Postgraduate supervision

Jo is interested in supervising PhDs in the following topics:

  • Youth mental health policy and practice
  • School-based mental health and wellbeing
  • Personal experiences of health/mental health and illness
  • Person-centred quality and service improvement
  • Co-design and public involvement in service delivery, improvement and research, including with seldom heard groups  
  • Health policy and service evaluation, especially projects using qualitative methods

Please do feel free to get in contact, with a research proposal and CV, if you are interested in working with Jo on your PhD research.

Research

Current and recent projects include:

Publications

Recent publications

Article

Walton, H, Crellin, N, Litchfield, I, Sherlaw-Johnson, C, Georghiou, T, Massou, E, Sidhu, M, Tomini, SM, Herlitz, L, Ellins, J, Ng, PL & Fulop, NJ 2025, 'Applying the major system change framework to evaluate implementation of rapid healthcare system change: a case study of COVID-19 remote home monitoring services', Implementation science communications, vol. 6, no. 1, 24. https://doi.org/10.1186/s43058-025-00707-y

Ellins, J, Sidhu, M & Daniel, K 2025, 'We can evaluate rapidly, but should we? Researchers' and research funders' perspectives on the uses, challenges and limitations of rapid health care evaluation', Journal of Health Services Research & Policy. https://doi.org/10.1177/13558196251340549

Crellin, NE, Herlitz, L, Sidhu, MS, Ellins, J, Georghiou, T, Litchfield, I, Massou, E, Ng, PL, Sherlaw‐Johnson, C, Tomini, SM, Vindrola‐Padros, C, Walton, H & Fulop, NJ 2024, 'Patient Characteristics Associated With Disparities in Engagement With and Experience of COVID‐19 Remote Home Monitoring Services: A Mixed‐Methods Evaluation', Health Expectations, vol. 27, no. 4, e14145. https://doi.org/10.1111/hex.14145

Ellins, J, Hocking, L, Al-Haboubi, M, Newbould, J, Fenton, S-J, Daniel, K, Stockwell, S, Leach, B, Sidhu, M, Bousfield, J, McKenna, G, Saunders, K, O'Neil, S & Mays, N 2023, 'Early evaluation of the Children and Young People's Mental Health Trailblazer programme: a rapid mixed-methods study', Health and Social Care Delivery Research, vol. 11, no. 8, pp. 1-137. https://doi.org/10.3310/hsdr-tr-130818, https://doi.org/10.3310/XQWU4117

Ellins, J, Hocking, L, Al-Haboubi, M, Newbould, J, Fenton, S-J, Daniel, K, Stockwell, S, Leach, B, Sidhu, M, Bousfield, J, McKenna, G, Saunders, C, O’Neill, S & Mays, N 2023, 'Implementing mental health support teams in schools and colleges: the perspectives of programme implementers and service providers', Journal of Mental Health. https://doi.org/10.1080/09638237.2023.2278101

Snooks, H, Khanom, A, Ballo, R, Bower, P, Checkland, K, Ellins, J, Ford, GA, Locock, L & Walshe, K 2023, 'Is bureaucracy being busted in research ethics and governance for health services research in the UK? Experiences and perspectives reported by stakeholders through an online survey', BMC Public Health, vol. 23, no. 1, 1119 . https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-023-16013-y

Smith, J, Ellins, J, Sherlaw-Johnson, C, Vindrola-Padros, C, Appleby, J, Morris, SM, Sussex, J & Fulop, NJ 2023, 'Rapid evaluation of service innovations in health and social care: key considerations', Health and Social Care Delivery Research, vol. 11, no. 11. https://doi.org/10.3310/BTNU5673

Sidhu, M, Walton, H, Crellin, N, Ellins, J, Herlitz, L, Litchfield, I, Massou, E, Tomini, SM, Vindrola-Padros, C & Fulop, NJ 2023, 'Staff experiences of training and delivery of remote home monitoring services for patients diagnosed with COVID-19 in England: A mixed-methods study', Journal of Health Services Research & Policy, vol. 28, no. 3, pp. 171-180. https://doi.org/10.1177/13558196231172586

Walton, H, Crellin, N, Sidhu, M, Sherlaw-Johnson, C, Herlitz, L, Litchfield, I, Georghiou, T, Tomini, S, Massou, E, Ellins, J, Sussex, J & Fulop, N 2023, 'Undertaking rapid evaluations during the COVID-19 pandemic: Lessons from evaluating COVID-19 remote home monitoring services in England', Frontiers in Sociology, vol. 8, 982946. https://doi.org/10.3389/fsoc.2023.982946

Walton, H, Vindrola-Padros, C, Crellin, NE, Sidhu, MS, Herlitz, L, Litchfield, I, Ellins, J, Ng, PL, Massou, E, Tomini, SM & Fulop, NJ 2022, 'Patients' experiences of, and engagement with, remote home monitoring services for COVID-19 patients: a rapid mixed-methods study', Health Expectations. https://doi.org/10.1111/hex.13548

Commissioned report

Mundy, J, Moore, E, Soan, C, Anderson, JK, Albajara Saenz, A, Baser, A, Burn, A-M, Fenton, S-J, McKenna, G, O'Neil, S, Platt, H, Ford, TJ, Ellins, J & Mays, N 2025, Evaluating the implementation of the Transforming Children and Young People’s Mental Health Provision Green Paper programme: Findings from surveys of schools and colleges and Mental Health Support Teams (2024). London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. https://doi.org/10.17037/PUBS.04676423

Fulop, NJ, Walton, H, Crellin, N, Georghiou, T, Herlitz, L, Litchfield, I, Massou, E, Sherlaw-Johnson, C, Sidhu, M, Tomini, SM, Vindrola-Padros, C, Ellins, J, Morris, S & Ng, PL 2022, A Rapid Mixed Methods Evaluation of Remote Home Monitoring Models During the COVID-19 Pandemic in England. vol. 11, 13 edn, NIHR Journals Library. https://doi.org/10.3310/FVQW4410

Other

Smith, J, Sussex, J, Ellins, J & Sidhu, M 2023, 'Rapid Evaluation in Health and Care Workshop workshop'.

Sidhu, M & Ellins, J 2022, 'Rapid evaluation: what is it, when does it work best, and how to avoid ‘quick’ becoming ‘rushed’ (online seminar 100 attendees)'.

Other contribution

Sidhu, M & Ellins, J 2025, Is it possible to be both rapid and rigorous? Balancing speed and quality considerations in the design and conduct of rapid health care evaluations.

View all publications in research portal

Expertise

What happens when we put mental health support teams in schools? Animation co-produced with the Institute for Mental Health Youth Advisory Group, 2023.

Expertise

  • Youth mental health
  • Mental health in schools
  • Patients' experiences of NHS services
  • Public involvement in health care