Evaluation of the acute care model EPICENTRE: a mixed methods study
Research type
Research Study
Full title
An evaluation of the EPICENTRE acute care model of point-of-care testing and intervention in the community: a mixed methods study (EPAC)
IRAS ID
313222
Contact name
Daniel Lasserson
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University of Birminghan
Duration of Study in the UK
1 years, 0 months, 30 days
Research summary
Hospital at Home (HaH) is a health care model in which patients who need acute care are treated at home as an alternative to hospital admission. EPICENTRE (Emergency Point of Care Testing and Treatment in Care Homes and at Home) is an innovative service in Sandwell and West Birmingham Hospitals NHS Trust NHS (SWBH) in the West Midlands built on the HaH model of delivering medical care. The service involves acute care clinicians working with community care teams to assess and manage patients who need acute care by giving them hospital level treatment in their usual place of residence.
This research study aims to evaluate EPICENTRE to find out the scope of the service and how it is working in practice. We will speak with key personnel in SWBH to find out how the model functions and gather documents relating to how the model is intended to run. We will look at electronic data that is routinely collected on patients that have been cared for in this service to understand the movement of patients through the service and the activities that constitute the care they receive. We will then speak with a broad range of stakeholders including patients, carers and people involved in the set up and implementation of EPICENTRE to explore their experiences and what works and why, as well as any challenges.
We will then put together our findings and discuss them with a group of stakeholders including members of the public to agree on recommendations for improvement of the service.
We are working with a Patient and Public Involvement and Engagement (PPIE) panel to ensure issues that are important to patients and the public are central to the study.
REC name
Social Care REC
REC reference
22/IEC08/0014
Date of REC Opinion
14 Jul 2022
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion