The TraCCS project: Transforming community health services for children and young people who are ill: a quasi experimental evaluation

SPRU research team

• Gillian Parker (Principal Investigator)
  Gemma Spiers
  Yvonne Birks
  Kate Gridley 
  Linda Cusworth 

External collaborators

• Victoria Allgar, Hull York Medical School/Department of Health Sciences, University of York
• Gerry Richardson, Centre for Health Economics, University of York
• Helen Duncan, ChiMat, Child and Maternal Health Observatory

Project summary

Background

Current policy for children and young people who are ill advocates for care to be provided in the community and close to the patient and family. In response to this, health communities in England are redesigning their services to include comprehensive Children’s Community Nursing (CCN) teams that can deliver this type of care. However, our past research shows that there is little evidence on which to develop these types of services, and little evidence about costs and outcomes.

Aim

The purpose of this project is to evaluate the impact of introducing CCN teams.

Methods

We are working with three health communities who are currently redesigning their services to include or expand CCN teams. In each of these areas, we will conduct three studies to evaluate the impact of introducing or expanding CCN teams. The studies will be:

• An interrupted time series analysis: this analysis will collect data about hospital activity at multiple points before and after the introduction/expansion of the CCN teams to examine the impact of the teams on hospital activity.
• A longitudinal qualitative study to examine: i) the changes in quality of care experienced by families when they start using CCN teams; ii) the benefits and challenges of designing and implementing the CCN teams from the perspectives of NHS commissioners and practitioners.
• A cost study to examine the cost impact on the NHS and the families who use CCN teams.</li>

In November 2012 and June 2013 researchers met with the project’s NHS partners in the first of a series of Learning Days. These days are a forum for knowledge exchange between the researchers and the NHS study sites and NHS staff across study sites.

Discussions took place to kick off the development of an analytical toolkit. This toolkit is intended to aid decision making on the development of children’s community nursing services, and will be produced as part of the study.

Policy and practice aims

The evidence gathered from this project will be valuable for helping to inform the development of CCN teams, in line with the current policy agenda around bringing care closer to home.

Advisory board

The project has an advisory board made up of people with relevant expertise. They provide an excellent source of advice and knowledge on current issues and access to professional networks in order to have the maximum effect on services. Members of the board are:

Professor Karl Atkin, Deputy Head of Department, Department of Health Sciences, University of York

Dr Pamela Barnes, Chair, Action for Sick Children

Professor Bryony Beresford, Research Director, Social Policy Research Unit, University of York

Linda Partridge, Director of Programmes, Well Child

Fiona Smith, Children and Young People's Nursing Advisor, Royal College of Nursing

Dr Indie Thopte, Paediatrician, York Hospital

Dr Mark Whiting Consultant Nurse, Hertfordshire Community NHS Trust

Additional information