Introduction to Evaluation Online: 16 April – 13 May 2018

Do you need to demonstrate the impact of projects in your organisation?

Do you want to improve the design and implementation of your programmes?

Are you tasked with carrying out an evaluation, but don’t know where to start?

Consider enrolling in our four-week online course run by the NIHR CLAHRC North Thames Academy to address these challenges. It is aimed at staff in frontline services at NHS Trusts, CCGs and Local Authorities, who have limited experience conducting service evaluations.

After participating in this course, you will have the skills and knowledge to undertake your own evaluation of a local programme or service. Inspired by the content of our popular face-to-face evaluation course, the online course will cover:

  • Different types of evaluation, including their pros and cons

  • How to select suitable methods and approaches for evaluating a local programme or service

  • Practical skills and tips in using evaluation methods and approaches

  • Ways of sharing your evaluation findings to make an impact

Teaching will be delivered entirely online, by expert tutors. You’ll learn by watching videocasts; interacting through activities and questions; and learning from others by taking part in the discussions that accompany each step. You’ll also develop a plan for a real life evaluation you may have to conduct.

Who is this workshop suitable for?

Staff from NHS trusts, local authorities and clinical commissioning groups who need to evaluate local programmes or services as part of their work. The course is not aimed at academics or researchers.

What preparation is needed?

Participants should attend the course with an evaluation in mind that they may have to carry out.  No previous knowledge of evaluation is required, or experience of study design and statistics.

Participants will receive a certificate of completion if they undertake at least 80% of the course activities.

Dates – Monday 16 April – Sunday 13 May 2018.

Learning hours 3 hours per week (12 hours in total)

Cost – £100 for staff working in NIHR CLAHRC North Thames partner organisations (please click here to see a list of our partners). There is a delegate fee of £250 for other attendees.

Registration – Registration will open in February 2018, when an application form will be available here. Applications will be selected to ensure a diverse range of participants.

Please note, a cancellation fee of £100 will be charged to both partner and non-partner delegates in the event of non-attendance without notice after 5pm, Sunday 8th April 2018.

 

For more information, and to be added to our mailing list, please contact clahrc.academy@ucl.ac.uk

Improving NHS orthopaedic care – your views and experience needed

There are big variations in care for people receiving orthopedic services in the NHS –  orthopedics covers conditions involving the musculoskeletal system including hip and knee replacement surgery. We are evaluating the Getting it Right First Time programme – or GIRFT – which aims to improve services and make sure people get more consistent care across the whole NHS.

Part of our evaluation involves asking two sets of people –

i) patients over 60 who have had orthopaedic surgery in the last two years
and
ii) people over 60 

about their views on orthopaedic surgery and improving outcomes.

We’re running focus groups in March

People who have had a hip or knee replacement in a NHS hospital within the last two years Aged over 60
21st March – UCL Farr Institute, 222 Euston Road, London, NW1 2DA

Find out more here

People over 60
19th March – UCL Farr Institute, 222 Euston Road, London, NW1 2DA

Find out more here

 

Searching and Beyond Workshop comes to London

CLAHRC North Thames has joined forces with colleagues at PenCLAHRC to bring their successful ‘Searching and Beyond’ workshop developed by information professionals for information professionals to London.

Systematic reviews are an essential component of evidence based health care and the number being undertaken is increasing.


PenCLAHRC’s  popular workshop has been redesigned with an exciting new online element followed by a day of discussion and participation on how our skills as information professionals can be used in carrying out a systematic review.

The online modules will require around 5 hours of your time prior to attending the workshop and will include videos and learning activities. We hope they will make you think of questions to bring along to the face-to-face workshop which will involve discussion, demonstration, practical work and participation.

The workshop includes:

  • Systematic reviews in context;
  • Systematic review search methods:
    • Grey literature searching
    • Search filters;
    • Updating searches;
  • Reference management
  • Protocols
  • Screening
  • Data extraction and critical appraisal
  • Synthesis
  • Reporting
  • Writing

This one day, hands-on, interactive workshop offers librarians and other information professionals the chance to discover more about the systematic review process and how they can utilise many of the skills they already have within a systematic review. The workshop may also be of interest to researchers who have database searching experience and are keen to fine-tune their skills in both searching and reference management specific to systematic reviews.

Developed by: Evidence Synthesis Team, PenCLAHRC at the University of Exeter Medical School, in collaboration with clinical librarians at the Knowledge Spa, Royal Cornwall Hospital Trust.

Delivered byAlison BethelMorwenna Rogers, (Information Specialists) and Rebecca Abbott (Systematic Reviewer)
Organised byJenny Lowe

Date:    Thursday 26th April 2018

Time:    TBC

Previous dates and locations:
23rd April 2014 – Exeter
13th January 2015 – Exeter
13th November 2015 – Winchester
14th January 2016 – Exeter
20th April 2017 – Exeter

Cost:   £175

Booking:    Please visit: http://store.exeter.ac.uk/conferences-events/university-of-exeter-medical-school/workshops/searching-and-beyond-2018-a-systematic-review-workshop-for-information-professionals

Feedback from our last course, April 2017, Exeter:
“I liked the teaching methods of videos/exercises a lot, then building on it face to face reinforced learning”  “all relevant” “I found it all useful”

#BeyondSearching

Bart’s Research Centre for Women’s Health is up and running with the EMmY study

We’re delighted to announce our latest research partnership – with the the Bart’s Research Centre for Women’s Health (BARC) .

BARC was launched in June 2017 and is led by Professors Shakila Thangaratinam and Khalid Khan.

The Centre is funded by Barts Charity and based within Queen Mary University of London at the Whitechapel campus.

The centre team (pictured above) will focus on improving the health of mothers and babies in East London, addressing healthcare challenges such as diabetes, obesity and heavy blood loss during childbirth.

The first BARC study is set to start in January 2018 –  “EMmY: Effectiveness and acceptability of myo-inositol nutritional supplement in the prevention of gestational diabetes: a pilot placebo controlled double blind randomised trial”.

EmMY will aim to randomise 200 women who are at risk of developing gestational diabetes, across three sites (Barts Health, Guy’s and St Thomas’, and Central Manchester University NHS Trusts).

Participants will be randomised to receive either 4g of Myo-inositol – a naturally occurring substance produced in the human body that belongs to the vitamin B complex group – or placebo study supplement daily, from the end of the first trimester until delivery.

The pilot will examine rates of recruitment and randomisation to the trial, and rates of adherence to the intervention. Researchers will analyse reasons for participation, non-participation, and non-adherence to the trial protocol. Any preliminary estimates and insight into trial procedures from the EMmY study will then inform a future large-scale trial.

The CLAHRC is supporting the study by providing health economic analysis for the pilot and full trial and assisting with patient and public involvement..

Contact Doris Lanz, BARC Senior Trial Manager for more info at d.lanz@qmul.ac.uk

Exciting new data partnership with Islington launches this month

Islington Council, Islington Clinical Commissioning Group, North East London Commissioning Support Unit, and the CLAHRC,  have been granted an award for a project which aims to create a linked data-set between NHS and a local government data for households across Islington.

Local authorities hold data on their residents in terms of social care, housing, early years settings, education and crime. All of these are important to health: and in turn affected by health.

Linking local government information with health data offers an opportunity to better understand the local population’s combined health and social needs and to improve health and wellbeing in the widest sense across the Borough.

We would be able to answer questions such as:

What are local pattern of health and social risk factors for homelessness at a household level?

How could we best target prevention services and support to households at high risk of homelessness?

The project builds on our close ties to Islington, and is part of the Health Foundation’s Advancing Applied Analytics programme, aimed at improving analytical capability in support of health and care services.

 

 

 

The Health Foundation is an independent charity committed to bringing about better health and health care for people in the UK.

 

Conference success for CLAHRC PhD Marissa Mes

CLAHRC North Thames PhD Marissa Mes enjoyed success at the prestigious Annual Scientific Meeting (ASM) of the Asthma UK Centre for Applied Research (AUK CAR).

Marissa accepts her award from AUKCAR Director Professor Aziz Sheikh

Marissa won best poster presentation when she showcased her work to delegates during the conference (below)  – her research focus is assessing whether pharmacists are a suitable delivery channel for an intervention aimed at asthma patients to improve their adherence to preventer inhalers.

Marissa in action at the ASM

Our congratulations to Marissa on her prize.

Marissa’s fellow CLAHRC PhD Caroline Katzer, who is developing and evaluating an intervention to improve adherence to inhaled corticosteroids (ICS) in adult asthma patients also showcased her work at the conference via both a poster and an oral presentation, which generated a lot of discussion, and was among those complimented on the quality of her presentations.

 

 

Both PhDs are funded by the CLAHRC and affiliated to AUKCAR.

The National Institute for Health Research: Improving the health and wealth of the UK through research

A new piece in Open Access Government highlights the scale and scope of the work of our funder the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR)

In its role as the “research arm of the NHS” the NIHR’s mission is to improve both the health and wealth of the UK by means of research. A piece by Jonathan Miles (Editor, Open Access Government) gives a great overview of the work of the NIHR, and how it works with charities, industry and other sectors.

There are also a couple of examples of the groundbreaking and impactful research funded by the NIHR and the difference it is making – read the piece below.

Making Specialing Special – Conference on Enhanced Therapeutic 1:1 Nursing Care

CLAHRC researcher Dr Victoria Wood is among those presenting at an upcoming conference on “nurse specialing” – the continuous presence of a member of the nursing team for a single patient. Registration is now open for the event on Friday February 9th, hosted by our partners at University College London Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust.

Some patients admitted to hospitals may have increased confusion, delirium, and dementia or be at risk of harm from falling or leaving the ward unsafely. Other patients may present with mental health needs that require additional therapeutic care to support and maintain safety of the patient and staff and reduce risk while in hospital.

Dr Wood is one of our Embedded Research Team (ERT) based within UCLH. The ERT works closely with staff and leaders across the Trust to improve patient care and provide research evidence that staff and management can use when planning and designing services. Victoria carried out a Rapid Appraisal study of Specialling and Nurse Specials and will share her learning about the appraisal, and speak about demystifying research for NHS staff.

 

Top of the charts! Lancet paper on HIV testing most downloaded in 2017

The end of any year sees a number of “best of” charts published and research is no exception!

We’re delighted to report that a paper produced by the CLAHRC’s Dr Werner Leber and Professor Chris Griffiths and others is 2017’s most downloaded in The Lancet HIV. Dr Werner ‘s groundbreaking work represents the first time a model to explore the cost effectiveness of screening for HIV in primary care has been applied to the UK.

The work generated great media interest (below) and offers a model to measure cost-effectiveness for commissioners and providers of HIV care.

Read the paper:

Cost-effectiveness of screening for HIV in primary care: a health economics modelling analysis
Baggaley, Rebecca F et al.
The Lancet HIV , Volume 4 , Issue 10 , e465 – e474

http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanhiv/article/PIIS2352-3018(17)30123-6/abstract 

Read the most downloaded list

Read a BITE sized summary of Werner’s work.