Sarah leads a research programme exploring predictors of, and interventions for, unscheduled care use and avoidable hospital admissions. Unplanned hospital admissions are one of the biggest challenges facing the NHS. They represent around 65 % of hospital bed days in England (34m bed days and 5 million emergency admissions in 2009/10) and despite the implementation of a large number of programmes aimed at reducing these admissions the numbers are growing rapidly year on year. Sarah's programme of research focuses on predicting and reducing risk factors for unplanned hospital admission and on the effectiveness of interventions to reduce admission. These projects include systematic reviews, qualitative studies, case studies and observational studies. The population and patient groups included vary from children with respiratory conditions to people at the end of life.

Sarah also collaborates on research projects in the areas of multi-morbidity, patient safety and the management of dermatological conditions. She is the author of a systematic review of interventions for acne.

Sarah is a member of a number of national research funding and related committees and an advisor to several national bodies.