Northamptonshire Care Home Improvement Project (NCHIP)
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Improving Care in Care Homes: Quality Improvement by Toolkit
IRAS ID
133738
Contact name
Graham Martin
Contact email
Research summary
England’s population is ageing rapidly. As a result of this ‘elderly explosion’, the demands for long-term care in care homes are expected to increase significantly. Concern has been expressed about the quality of care that residents receive in care homes. Nene CCG is committed to improving the quality of services in care homes in Northamptonshire. This initiative involves the implementation of a quality improvement toolkit, Care Homes Programme, developed by the NHS Institute for Innovation and Improvement in 8 care homes (including nursing homes and residential homes). The implementation process will last 7 months. Training on practical application of the toolkit will be provided to care home managers and staff throughout the 7 month period. Every participating care home will select 2-3 people to attend the training.
An independent evaluation study will be conducted by the University of Leicester alongside the implementation. The study has three stages. Stage 1: Baseline Survey: pre-intervention questionnaire surveys will be conducted with residents and staff aiming to obtain baseline understanding about life experiences of residents and work experiences of staff. Stage 2: Evaluation of the Implementation: focus group discussions with residents and individual interviews with care home staff will be conducted three months after the start of the implementation, aiming to explore what changes have been brought into care homes and how the toolkit has brought the changes. Observation of the training sessions and document analysis will also be carried out to develop understanding about the feasibility of implementing the toolkit within care homes. Stage 3: Post-Intervention Survey: post-intervention questionnaire surveys will be conducted with residents and staff using the same questionnaires employed in the baseline surveys. The findings of the two stages (pre and post) will be compared in order to identify whether the toolkit has brought improvements in experiences of residents and staff.
REC name
East Midlands - Leicester South Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
14/EM/0028
Date of REC Opinion
3 Feb 2014
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion