Hospital discharge in advanced disease:supporting family carers V1

  • Research type

    Research Study

  • Full title

    Supporting family carers to enable patient discharge from hospital in advanced disease (end of life):a qualitative study with carers and professionals to adapt evidence-based carer assessment to acute care settings.

  • IRAS ID

    155048

  • Contact name

    Gunn Grande

  • Contact email

    gunn.grande@manchester.ac.uk

  • Sponsor organisation

    University of Manchester

  • Clinicaltrials.gov Identifier

    RDMP910, Research Data Management Plan

  • Research summary

    Background
    Discharge from hospital inpatient care at end of life relies heavily on family carers. An existing assessment tool, the Carer Support Needs Assessment Tool (CSNAT), may improve carers’ support.

    Aims
    a) Investigate the support required by carers at patient discharge;
    b) Investigate how the CSNAT translates to the acute care setting and pathway.

    Study Design
    A qualitative study using interviews and focus groups to investigate carers’ and practitioners’ perspectives both currently and retrospectively.

    Recruitment
    • 30-36 carers. Carers will be recruited through Central Manchester NHS Foundation Trust. Care teams will identify carers of patients currently approaching end of life for whom discharge from inpatient care is planned. Care teams will also retrospectively review deceased patient records to identify carers of discharged patients 6-18 months post bereavement.
    • 48 key hospital and community staff involved in patient discharge at end of life within Central, South and Pennine NHS Trusts within Greater Manchester.

    Data Collection
    • Semi-structured interviews with current and bereaved cares in a location of their choice. Interviews will explore broad concerns surrounding discharge and how CSNAT may address them.
    • Focus groups or telephone interviews with practitioners according to preference. These will consider practitioners' perceptions of carer support needs and how CSNAT may be applied in practice..

    Analysis
    Data from the interviews and focus groups will be analysed within a framework based on known CSNAT domains.

    Using the results
    Four workshops will bring carers together with hospital and community staff to:
    • discuss preliminary findings;
    • assist in the adaptation of CSNAT for acute care;
    • assist in the development of a protocol for integration into the acute care discharge pathway.
    In addition to general dissemination, we aim to test the amended CSNAT and protocol in a future project as recommended by the MRC Framework for Evaluation of Complex Interventions.

  • REC name

    North West - Greater Manchester West Research Ethics Committee

  • REC reference

    14/NW/1311

  • Date of REC Opinion

    9 Oct 2014

  • REC opinion

    Favourable Opinion