Evaluation of the patient impact of eTCP

• Research type

  Research Study

• Full title

  Evaluation of the impact of electronic Transfer of Care to Pharmacy (eTCP) on patients

• IRAS ID

  233116

• Contact name

  C W Morecroft

• Contact email

  C.W.Morecroft@ljmu.ac.uk

• Duration of Study in the UK

  0 years, 5 months, 2 days

• Research summary

  This research study is an evaluation of a project currently being implemented in hospitals across Cheshire and Merseyside. This project, electronic Transfer of Care to Pharmacy (eTCP) involves the electronic transmission of patients’ discharge information to a community pharmacy of their choice. This constitutes a referral for follow up after discharge by the community pharmacist and will be available for patients that meet an agreed list of criteria. The eTCP project aims to encourage collaboration between secondary and primary care, reduce emergency bed days, length of stay and hospital re-admissions and improve patient satisfaction. Funding for an evaluation of the eTCP project has been provided by the Innovation Agency, Academic Health Science Network for the North West Coast.
  This evaluation will investigate the impact of eTCP on patients and will establish whether the service is beneficial for patients. The evaluation will involve a combination of methods to address the aim. A controlled study will take place at participating hospitals (see protocol version 1 210717 - appendix for list of potential hospitals). Patients eligible for referral to the eTCP service will be grouped into the referral group or a control group and their 30-day readmission data and length of stay will be compared based on whether or not they received a referral. This will take place for the first two months of a hospital implementing the service, after which hospitals will be expected to roll out the service across the entire hospital. The second part of this study will involve a single structured telephone interview with participants referred to eTCP within the first two months to determine the impact on their experience.

• REC name

  Wales REC 4

• REC reference

  17/WA/0287

• Date of REC Opinion

  11 Sep 2017

• REC opinion

  Unfavourable Opinion