Investigating the role of the private sector in NHS hip replacements
Research type
Research Study
Full title
A qualitative study investigating the role of the private sector and market-orientated policies in the delivery of NHS hip replacements.
IRAS ID
215335
Contact name
Hannah Cowan
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine
Clinicaltrials.gov Identifier
16/IEC08/0047, Previous REC application Dec 2016
Duration of Study in the UK
1 years, 9 months, 0 days
Research summary
This study aims to provide a greater understanding of the increase of private-sector involvement and market-orientated policies in the NHS. Current research tends to assume that private organisational models incentivise the self-interest of healthcare staff, and public organisations trust the altruism of healthcare staff. This research, however, does not account for the complex and contradictory ways in which people come to do the things they do.
This research will therefore use an ethnographical approach (using interviews and general observation) to provide an analytical, illustrative account of how healthcare workers interact with different forms of organisation. How do public or private bodies affect the decisions and behaviours of healthcare staff? Hip replacements will be used as a case study because it has already been widely outsourced to the private sector due to its perceived simplicity and reproducibility.
Interviews and general observations will take place in the Sussex Orthopaedic Treatment Centre. The lead orthopaedic nurses have agreed for me to spend some time in the ward to understand the wider context in which healthcare staff work. I will write these observations into field notes which will be completely anonymised – the focus here is not any particular individual but the settings in which people work. The lead nurses have agreed to ask members of staff and patients to participate in interviews. These will be audio recorded and transcribed to protect anonymity.
This data will be analysed in conjunction with observations and interviews from the private sector and professional bodies such as the British Orthopaedic Association. Data will be analysed closely, and drawn into themes which will be peer reviewed. The results will then be written into a PhD thesis focused on illustrating the ways in which healthcare staff interact with different forms of organisation in the UK healthcare system.REC name
Social Care REC
REC reference
17/IEC08/0010
Date of REC Opinion
13 Apr 2017
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion