Outpatient care for people with memory problems

• Research type

  Research Study

• Full title

  Optimising acute hospital outpatient care for people with memory problems: development and feasibility testing of a toolkit to improve care

• IRAS ID

  323004

• Contact name

  Rachael Kelley

• Contact email

  r.kelley@leedsbeckett.ac.uk

• Sponsor organisation

  Leeds Beckett University

• Duration of Study in the UK

  1 years, 9 months, 31 days

• Research summary

  BACKGROUND
  750,000 people live with dementia (PLWD) in England. Around 90% have one or more additional health conditions and they are regular users of hospital outpatient services. Little research has explored their experiences of using these services, but studies that do suggest they experience multiple challenges.

  AIMS
  • To explore experiences of outpatient services for PLWD and their families, including examples of good practice and potential improvements
  • To design and test approaches to improve outpatient services for PLWD and their families

  STUDY PLANS

  Stage 1:
  Researchers will observe the experiences of up to 20 PLWD and their families attending hospital outpatient appointments. Interviews and conversations with them and around 20 outpatient staff will further explore current care experiences, including what works well and potential improvements. The data will be analysed to identify ways outpatient care could be improved.

  Stage 2:
  Stage 1 findings will be used in workshops with PLWD, families and outpatient staff to ‘co-design’ (develop together) ways to improve outpatient care. This will be turned into a toolkit for improving care.

  Two NHS outpatient departments will try out the toolkit. Interviews and observations with up to 16 PLWD, families and staff in those departments will explore how well the toolkit works and any changes needed.

  The Stage 2 findings will be analysed and discussed in a final workshop to determine how well the toolkit works, agree any changes needed, and develop recommendations for improving outpatient care for PLWD.

  OUTPUTS
  The main outputs will be a toolkit, recommendations and resources for improving outpatient care for PLWD (ready for further testing in a bigger study).

  PPI
  Three groups of PLWD and relatives (including some from under-represented groups), helped develop the study plans, making valuable amendments to the study, PPI and accessibility plans. Their input will continue throughout the study.

• REC name

  Yorkshire & The Humber - Bradford Leeds Research Ethics Committee

• REC reference

  23/YH/0261

• Date of REC Opinion

  23 Nov 2023

• REC opinion

  Favourable Opinion