Transformation Change Project

What is the Transformation Change Project?

There are three transformation change programmes currently underway at Cheshire and Wirral Partnership (CWP) NHS Foundation Trust, under the categories of acute, community and crisis care. The primary objective of clinical service development and redesign should be the improvement of outcomes and experiences for people using the clinical services; however, such service innovations often fail to be accompanied by robust evaluation and research. With this in mind, this study aims to review and collate data and conduct interviews and focus groups with service users, carers, staff, referrers and commissioners in order to complete a comprehensive evaluation across the three transformation programmes. This study follows on from a previous successful mixed-methods research collaboration between CWP and LJMU which investigated the needs of service users with complex mental health problems, and the nature and cost of the service provision offered to these individuals; the findings of which were relevant to the design of the present study.

How do the three programmes differ?

Acute Transformation Programme

We will focus upon length of stay in hospital, particularly for service users who are classed as acute, clinician decision-making around these acute inpatients, and investigate changes in the patient profile from April 2019 to present day, which will also be helpful in exploring the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Methodology

  • Analyse anonymised CWP data from April 2019 to present day to compare the three years and explore the impact of changes within the resource on the service user profile.
  • Undertake focus groups with clinicians about their cases. This will be monitored quantitatively, by using a short post-focus group questionnaire.

Community Transformation Programme

This will focus upon waiting times for service users accessing services, reviewing length of time spent within secondary services (both before and after implementing the new changes) and evaluating the experiences of service users, staff, referrers and commissioners.

Methodology

  • Examine waiting times and length of time spent within services (both pre and post), using anonymised CWP data from April 2019 to present day. Routinely recorded diagnoses will be included in the data gathered.
  • Explore the experiences of service users, staff, referrers and commissioners.

Crisis Transformation Programme

This will focus upon the impact of implementation of the new model, which aims to provide a simpler and more accessible service by introducing a single point access, 24/7 crisis line, as opposed to their previous model, which had eight crisis lines within various different departments.

Methodology

  • Analyse anonymised CWP data from April 2019 to present day to compare the three separate years and explore the impact of changes within the resource on the service user profile.
  • Conduct 1:1 semi-structured interviews to explore service user, carer and staff experiences of the new approach.

Who should I contact for more information about the study?

Principal Investigator: Dr Pooja Saini - P.Saini@ljmu.ac.uk | Prof Taj Nathan - Taj.Nathan@nhs.net.
Co-Investigators: Dr Jason McIntyre - J.C.McIntyre@ljmu.ac.uk | Dr Amrith Shetty - Amrith.Shetty1@nhs.net.
Research Assistant: Laura Sambrook - L.M.Sambrook@ljmu.ac.uk.