Recruiting Participants for Research with the University of Birmingham
Engaging Communities Solutions are working with the University of Birmingham on a project about partnering in the NHS.
What is the project about?
There are continuing concerns about some NHS providers such as hospitals. These are often reported in the media where examples of poor patient care may have been due to clinical errors, negligence, staff shortages, poor leadership, and a lack of infrastructure.
In response to these problems different governments have looked at ways to improve these services. One of the ways they have tried to do this is by getting services to work better together. Different ways of working together have been put forward that can range from NHS providers and staff voluntarily coming together to solve problems, to government regulators enforcing NHS providers which are experiencing problems to learn from others doing well, or in some cases be taken over by another NHS provider to try and improve the situation. The merger of NHS hospital trusts is an example of this approach where two previously separate hospitals join up services and have one executive board overseeing the merged organisation.
The purpose of this study is to gain a better understanding of these partnering processes within organisations within the NHS, to identify what factors contribute to partnering going well, or contribute to the partnering arrangements not working out as planned. In addition to this, we would like to further identify what kinds of arrangements exist.
We are speaking to NHS policymakers and other influential groups about how these approaches to partnering can work and what their experience of putting them into practice has been as well as speaking to NHS providers currently involved in these partnerships and ask them about whether these are working out as planned.
We also want to speak to patients and members of the public about their experiences of using services that are within a partnering arrangement. This could be where hospital trusts have merged or are working together more informally, or where Primary Care providers are working together in Primary Care Networks.
We will produce reports and scientific papers based on this research to better inform healthcare professionals and policymakers about when and for whom partnering may be most effective.
What will you have to do if you take part in this research?
We are asking patients and members of the public to take part in discussion groups or interviews that will take around 30-60 minutes. Due to Covid-19 social distancing restrictions the groups will take place through Zoom or Microsoft Teams. In some circumstances it will be possible for interviews to be carried out by telephone.
Volunteering to take part
If you would like to take part in the project or would like more information about taking part, please contact either Dr Ross Millar or Deborah Faulks:
Dr Ross Millar
Health Services Management Centre
University of Birmingham
West Midlands
B15 2T
Tel: 0121 414 8980
r.millar@bham.ac.uk
Deborah Faulks
Engaging Communities Solutions
Unit 42, Staffordshire University Business Village
Dyson Way
Staffordshire Technology Park
Stafford
ST18 0TW
Telephone: 07876897098
deborah.faulks@weareecs.co.uk