My motivation for research is grounded in my clinical experiences as a GP. My NIHR Doctoral Research Fellowship project examines healthcare service design for children and young people with life-limiting and life-threatening conditions and their families. Patient and public involvement forms a significant component of the project. I also have interests in the relationship between healthcare policy and practice, language in palliative care, primary palliative care and medical ethics.
My PhD supervisors are Prof Jeremy Dale, Dr Anne-Marie Slowther (University of Warwick) and Prof Jane Coad (Coventry University).
Alongside my NIHR Fellowship, I am part of a research team at Birmingham Children's Hospital working on the project "End-of-Life Care for children and young people with life-limiting conditions who die in the Paediatric Intensive Care Unit: the experience of parents" (funded by the Birmingham Children's Hospital Research Foundation BCHRF369).
My 2016 BMJ Blog is here It's time to change end of life conversations for better care.
My 2016 NHS England blog is here: Realising ambitions: improving palliative and end of life care for all in three steps.
Juliet Clare Bell's blog Let's Talk About Death: A doctor and an author review picture books about death by Juliet Clare Bell and Dr Sarah Mitchell, GP.
Together for Short Lives article Why the spotlight must stay on seriously ill children.
I graduated from the University of Sheffield in 2001, and completed GP vocational training scheme there in 2007. I graduated from the University of Cardiff with an MSc in Palliative Medicine with Distinction in 2012, and joined Warwick Medical School in November 2014 having been awarded an NIHR Doctoral Research Fellowship.
I am a locum GP in Sheffield, having worked for nine years in Birmingham as both a salaried GP and a partner. I have worked as a Macmillan GP, Clinical Lead for Palliative and End of Life Care for Birmingham CrossCity CCG and most recently as Clinical Director for Generalist Palliative Care at the West Midlands Clinical Network and Senate (NHS England). I was also Co-Chair of the West Midlands Paediatric Palliative Care Network (WMPPCN) for five years from 2013-2018.
- Mitchell, Sarah J., Slowther, Anne-Marie, Coad, Jane, Bertaud, Sophie, Dale, Jeremy, 2022. Facilitators and barriers to the delivery of palliative care to children with life-limiting and life-threatening conditions : a qualitative study of the experiences and perceptions of healthcare professionals. Archives of Disease in Childhood, 107 (1), pp. 59-64
- Mitchell, Sarah J., Spry, Jenna L, Hill, Emma, Coad, Jane, Dale, Jeremy, Plunkett, Adrian, 2019. Parental experiences of end of life care decision-making for children with life-limiting conditions in the paediatric intensive care unit : a qualitative interview study. BMJ Open, 9 (5)
- 'Mitchell, Sarah J., 'Bennett, Karina, 'Morris, Andrew, 'Slowther, Anne-Marie, 'Coad, Jane, 'Dale, Jeremy, 2019. 'Achieving beneficial outcomes for children with life-limiting and life-threatening conditions receiving palliative care and their families : a realist review. Palliative Medicine
- Mitchell, Sarah J., Slowther, Anne, Coad, Jane, Dale, Jeremy, 2018. The journey through care : study protocol for a longitudinal qualitative interview study to investigate the healthcare experiences and preferences of children and young people with life-limiting and life-threatening conditions and their families in the West Midlands, UK. BMJ Open, 8 (1)
- Mitchell, Sarah J., Slowther, Anne, Coad, Jane, Akhtar, Shazaan, Hyde, Elizabeth, Khan, Dena, Dale, Jeremy, 2018. Ethics and patient and public involvement with children and young people. Archives of disease in childhood - Education & practice edition
- Mitchell, Sarah J., Baldock, Alexander, 2018. The undertakers : learning from an unusual work experience placement. InnovAiT: Education and inspiration for general practice, 11 (8), pp. 465-466
- Mitchell, Sarah J., Dale, Jeremy, 2017. Palliative care from diagnosis for all ages including children and young people.. BMJ, 357
- Mitchell, Sarah J., Morris, Andrew, Bennett, Karina, Sajid, Laiba, Dale, Jeremy, 2017. Specialist paediatric palliative care services : what are the benefits?. Archives of Disease in Childhood
- Mitchell, Sarah J., Loew, J., Millington-Sanders, C., Dale, Jeremy, 2016. Providing end-of-life care in general practice : findings of a national GP questionnaire survey. British Journal of General Practice
- Mitchell, Sarah J., Dale, Jeremy, 2015. Advance Care Planning in palliative care : a qualitative investigation into the perspective of Paediatric Intensive Care Unit staff. Palliative Medicine, 29 (4), pp. 371-379
- Mitchell, Sarah J., Plunkett, A., Dale, Jeremy, 2014. Use of formal advance care planning documents : a national survey of UK Paediatric Intensive Care Units. Archives of Disease in Childhood, 99, pp. 327-330
- Mitchell, Sarah J., Dale, Jeremy, 2013. Advance care planning in practice : everybody's business. BMJ, 347
- Mitchell, Sarah J., 2020. The journey through care : palliative care for children and young people, and their families : what? when? how? : a realist inquiry.
- Mitchell, Sarah J., Tan, Amy, Moine, Sebastien, Dale, Jeremy, Murray, Scott A, 2019. Primary palliative care needs urgent attention. BMJ Open, BMJ
- Murray, Scott A., Mitchell, Sarah J., Boyd, Kirsty, Moine, Sebastien, 2019. Palliative care : training the primary care workforce is more important than rebranding. BMJ, BMJ Publishing Group Ltd
- Harris, Nicky, Blackburn, Maddie, Noyes, Jane, Aldridge, Jan, Lapwood, Suzie, Dunbar, Helena, Price, Jayne, Mitchell, Sarah J., Chambers, Lizzie, Bluebond-Langner, Myra, 2019. Undertaking doctoral research with children and young people with life-limiting or life-threatening conditions. Journal of Advanced Nursing, Wiley-Blackwell Publishing Ltd, pp. 3183-3185
- Mitchell, Sarah J., Plunkett, A., Dale, Jeremy, 2012. Advance care planning for all ages. Rapid response. BMJ, BMJ Publishing Group Ltd