Reducing Unplanned Hospital Admissions Study (RUHAS) v1.0

  • Research type

    Research Study

  • Full title

    A qualitative study to understand unplanned hospital admissions in people with active cancer in East Yorkshire.

  • IRAS ID

    187644

  • Contact name

    Una Macleod

  • Contact email

    una.macleod@hyms.ac.uk

  • Sponsor organisation

    University of Hull

  • Duration of Study in the UK

    1 years, 1 months, 30 days

  • Research summary

    People with cancer admitted as emergencies often experience poor quality of care, and some of these unplanned admissions, especially among patients already approaching the end of life, may be avoidable. The number of unplanned admissions in cancer patients has been steadily increasing over the past few decades. Moreover, there are wide variations in the extent of unplanned admissions in cancer patients among local authorities, but the drivers for unplanned admissions pertaining to the local context is poorly understood.

    Yorkshire Cancer Research funded a programme of research into reducing inequalities in cancer outcomes. As part of this programme, we intend to develop a complex intervention to reduce unplanned admissions for patients with cancer with active/advanced disease. This necessitates a sound understanding of the causes and patterns of unplanned admissions in patients with cancer and what provision already exists in the region, so as to develop more targeted interventions that would be successful in the local context of available resources and constraints.

    Therefore, in this study, we want to interview some cancer patients and their carers if they have recently experienced an unplanned admission. By exploring their experiences and perceptions of unplanned admission(s), we hope to identify what works well locally and what can be improved in terms of secondary, primary and community care and the juncture of the three. Such findings will be used to inform the development of the intervention.

  • REC name

    North West - Greater Manchester South Research Ethics Committee

  • REC reference

    15/NW/0865

  • Date of REC Opinion

    28 Oct 2015

  • REC opinion

    Favourable Opinion