RESTORE 2 New Application
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Optimising the delivery of existing professional support programmes for doctors: A participatory co-design and realist evaluation approach (RESTORE 2)
IRAS ID
309983
Contact name
Nicola Brennan
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University of Plymouth
Duration of Study in the UK
2 years, 5 months, 31 days
Research summary
The human cost of a failing doctor is difficult to measure but it is estimated that nearly 12,000 patients die in England each year as a result of preventable mistakes in their treatment. As patients, we expect our doctors to be competent. If they are not, we expect them to be stopped from practising.
However, there is a wider problem that is more difficult to fix. It is estimated that at any one time, around 6% (approx. 9,400) of hospital doctors in England may be ‘underperforming’. While they do not need to stop practicing, they do need help to improve their work to keep patients safe. Returning a doctors’ performance to an acceptable standard is called 'professional support'. Professional support covers a range of activities from a ‘quiet word in the ear’ to more formal training. However, we do not know enough about how the different approaches to professional support work in the NHS. This could result in professional support being conducted ineffectively, wasting doctors’ time and taxpayers’ money, and still leaving patients at risk of medical mistakes.We recently completed a project funded by the NIHR to look at different types of professional support programmes. We wanted to find out which ones work, why and how they work, and for whom. This ‘RESTORE 1’ project looked at papers written across the world and produced recommendations giving practical advice to make professional support programmes work better. In RESTORE 2, we will work with professional support teams at five NHS sites in the UK. Together with those teams, we will look at the recommendations from RESTORE 1 and identify what changes each would need to make to improve their local programme. The professional support team at each NHS site will then implement the changes, after which we will evaluate the modified programme's.
REC name
Wales REC 4
REC reference
22/WA/0032
Date of REC Opinion
7 Feb 2022
REC opinion
Unfavourable Opinion