Integrating emergency health and social care services: evaluation of the Highland Hub Redesign

Project Timescale: 01/03/11 to 31/12/11
Funder: The Highland Council
Research Team:

David Heaney, Principal Investigator, Centre for Rural Health

Gerry King, Research Nurse, Centre for Rural Health

Lee Dowie,  UoA Administrator, Centre for Rural Health

Fiona Smith, UoA Secretary, Centre for Rural Health

The Highland Hub Redesign project aims to capitalise on the co-location of services to deliver a single point of access for responding to both unscheduled or emergency contacts and the improved management of long term conditions in order to prevent avoidable admissions. Emergency health and social care services will be integrated, and technology will be used to support a preventative approach. This will be achieved by extending the working hours of the Hub, incorporating additional services, developing clinical input to responses, integrating triage pathways and providing call handling and remote monitoring.

 The innovative nature of the Hub means its impact is unknown. This proposal is to conduct a "before and after" evaluation of this ambitious innovation.

 Aims of the evaluation

  1. To document existing delivery of emergency health and social services in Highland and expectations of the Highland Hub Redesign
  2. To monitor the process of implementation of the Highland Hub Redesign
  3. To evaluate the impact of the Highland Hub Redesign on service delivery after one year against the process, vision, aims, objectives and desired outcomes specified in the PID
  4. To identify, and where possible quantify, the consequences (for patient outcome, staff and the NHS) of the Highland Hub Redesign.

Research questions

1.   What is the organisation of emergency health and social services in Highland, and how does it change over the year?

2.    To what extent has the Hub Redesign met its expectations in the process, vision, aims, objectives and desired outcomes specified in the PID

3.   What are the consequences (for patients, staff and the NHS) of integrating emergency health and social care systems?

4.    In what ways does technology enable or inhibit the innovation?

5.    Is there a differential impact of the re-design process in remote and rural areas?

 Plan

The planned project will use a mixed methods evaluative approach