Under what circumstances, and in what ways, is a quality improvement collaborative likely to succeed in a care home setting?

Dr Reena Devi is a research fellow in the Division of Medical Sciences and Graduate Entry Medicine at the University of Nottingham.

She is working on the PEACH (‘ProactivE heAlthcare for older people living in Care Homes) study, which is led by Dr Adam Gordon, and funded by the Dunhill Medical Trust. The PEACH project is using improvement science to bridge the gap between what we know and what we do in terms of the healthcare services delivered to care homes in South Nottinghamshire. The project is working with 4 clinical commissioning groups and their associated healthcare and care home providers, and is focusing on bringing healthcare services closer in-line with the Comprehensive Geriatric Assessment (CGA) model of care.

Dr Devi is evaluating the process of conducting quality improvement work in care homes. With the PEACH team she is using a realist evaluation framework to evaluate how the collaborative operates, and the extent to which the groups are effective (or not) in conducting quality improvement work. She has worked closely with the collaborative members, observed their meetings, carried out interviews and focus groups and reviewed relevant documentation. This work is revealing important insights into how the collaborative have worked together, and the contextual and mechanistic factors which either facilitate or block effective working. This work is informing an understanding of the different circumstances and mechanisms that bring about successful outcomes when working to improve the healthcare services delivered to older people living in care homes. Dr Devi will present the emerging findings from this study at the HSMC seminar.

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