Hospice-led Innovations Study to Improve Care (HOLISTIC)

  • Research type

    Research Study

  • Full title

    Research project to assess the impact of hospice-led interventions on the utilisation of acute care services and outcomes for patients

  • IRAS ID

    224380

  • Contact name

    Ros Taylor

  • Contact email

    r.taylor@hospiceuk.org

  • Sponsor organisation

    Hospice UK

  • Duration of Study in the UK

    0 years, 7 months, 1 days

  • Research summary

    It matters where people receive care at the end of their lives.

    Most patients prefer to die at home, in a care home or in a hospice, but about 50% die in hospital. Hospices in the UK have been implementing a wide range of innovative care models designed to reduce this proportion, so that people can die in their preferred settings.

    This study performs a qualitative set of interviews with patients and their informal carers who have experienced the initiative as part of their care, to provide case studies on how these initiatives are implemented, the success factors and obstacles, and the impact they have on patients' care and experience.

    The results of this research and service evaluation will be disseminated in a public report, as well as 'how-to' guides to direct the implementation of these initiatives by care providers nationwide.

    This research has two parts:
    Part 1: A quantitative, quasi-experimental study that is not covered in this application. This is a service evaluation that uses de-identified historical medical record data to perform a statistical assessment of the impact of each innovative care model on the number of hospital bed-days in the last 90 days of life. Feedback on the initiative will also be sort from staff who were involved in implementing it. The Confidentiality Advisory Group has granted approval for this part of the research.

    Part 2: A qualitative study, based on the identification of initiatives in Part 1 to obtain the perspective of those whom the initiatives are intended to reach: patients and those around them.
    The two phases will provide complementary aspects within the evaluation as a whole.

  • REC name

    Social Care REC

  • REC reference

    17/IEC08/0022

  • Date of REC Opinion

    9 Jun 2017

  • REC opinion

    Further Information Favourable Opinion