Andy Northcott is a Senior Lecturer in Sociology of Medicine within the Geller institute of Ageing and Memory.
The aim of Andy’s research is to respond to current health care challenges in the NHS by examining hidden inequalities in healthcare settings, and their impacts on patient experience and healthcare professionals in hospital settings. After initial work exploring paediatric hospital settings and their impact on children and families Andy has, since 2015, focussed on the largest single patient group admitted to NHS hospitals in the UK, People Living with Dementia. Since 2015 Andy has worked on projects in this area funded by the National Institute of Healthcare Research totalling over £2 million alongside a strong track record of publications and impact. The outcomes from this body of work are currently informing the developments of interventions, training and education for ward staff across the NHS.
Andy is a currently a co-applicant on an interdisciplinary application in the field of dementia, examining the use of restrictive practices in the care of people living with dementia within acute hospital settings.
Andy recently used and completed a program of ethnographic research exploring how the cultures and processes of acute care wards respond and react to the needs of people living with dementia, seeking to improve the experience and outcomes of hospital admissions for this patient group. This work is now informing health care practice and training and policy on dementia care in acute hospital settings.
Andy’s most recent monograph, Wandering The Wards, was shortlisted for the 2021 Foundation of Sociology of Health and Illness book prize. The book, an open access publication, provides a detailed ethnographic account of experiences of people living with dementia within contemporary hospital settings.
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Qualifications
- PhD, Health Policy/Oral Public Health, University of Manchester, 2015
- MA, Politics and International Relations, University of Manchester, 2010
- BA (Hons), Politics and Modern History, University of Manchester, 2003
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Research and publications
Books
Wandering the Wards: An Ethnography of Hospital Care and its Consequences for People Living with Dementia (Routledge Studies in Health and Medical Anthropology) 2020.
Monographs
- Featherstone, K., Northcott, A. (2020) Wandering the Wards, Routledge Studies in Health and Medical Anthropology : London
Key Articles
Boddington, P, Featherstone, K., Northcott A. (2020) ‘Presentation of the clothed self on the hospital ward: an ethnographic account of perceptual attention and implications for the personhood of people living with dementia’ BMJ Medical Humanities
Featherstone, K., Boddington P. Northcott, A. (2020) ‘Using Signs and Symbols to Label Hospital Patients with a Dementia Diagnosis: Help or Hindrance to Care?’, Narrative Inquiry in Bioethics 10(1) 49-61
Featherstone K., Northcott A., Harden J., Bale S., Harrison-Denning, K., Bridges J. (2019) Refusal and resistance to care by people living with dementia being cared for on acute hospital wards: an ethnographic study, Health Services and Delivery Research 7(11)
Featherstone, K., Northcott A, Bridges J. (2019) ‘Routines of resistance: An ethnography of the care of people living with dementia in acute hospital wards’. International Journal of Nursing Studies 96 53-16
Curtis, P., Northcott, A. (2016) The impact of single and shared rooms on family-centred care in children's hospitals, Journal of Clinical Nursing 26 1584-1596.
Northcott, A., Brocklehurst, P., Jerković-Ćosić, K., Reinders, JJ., McDermott, I., Tickle, M. (2013) Direct Access: Lessons learnt from the Netherlands, British Dental Journal 215(12) 607-10
Book Chapters
Featherstone, K., Northcott, A. (2019) ‘The care of people living with dementia in the acute hospital setting’ in Harrison-Denning, K (ed) ‘Evidence-Based Practice in Dementia for Nurses and Nursing Students’ Jessica Kingsley Publications : London
