Dr Jason Hancock

Expertise

Workforce, wellbeing, mental health, uncertainty

Biography

Dr Jason Hancock is a Consultant Psychiatrist, Director of Medical Education at Devon Partnership NHS Trust, and Honorary Clinical Associate Professor at the University of Exeter Medical School. He is a health services and workforce researcher whose work focuses on how mental health services deliver care under conditions of uncertainty, complexity and system pressure.

Jason leads a developing programme of research exploring how workforce capability, wellbeing, training and organisational context influence the implementation and delivery of mental healthcare. Drawing on approaches from implementation science, realist evaluation and applied health services research, his work seeks to understand how interventions are adopted, sustained and made effective within routine NHS practice.

His research interests include workforce wellbeing, professional support, clinical uncertainty, workforce development and the delivery of complex interventions in mental health settings. He has contributed to several NIHR-funded studies, including the Care Under Pressure programme investigating interventions to support doctors’ mental health and wellbeing, and is currently developing research focused on optimising the delivery and impact of interventions for the mental health workforce.

These interests align closely with the NIHR ARC South West Mental Health theme through a shared focus on strengthening mental health services, supporting the workforce that delivers care, and improving the implementation of evidence-based interventions. Jason is a co-supervisor on the ARC South West-funded PhD studentship: “Tailoring Professional Support Services for Psychiatrists: A Realist Evaluation”, which will examine how professional support services can be designed and delivered to better support psychiatrists and contribute to a sustainable mental health workforce.