Sheffield City Region Health-led Trial
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Sheffield City Region Health-led Trial
IRAS ID
229615
Contact name
Stephen Bevan
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Work and Health Unit
Duration of Study in the UK
3 years, 5 months, 30 days
Research summary
This proposed research looks at a voluntary employment service co-located within primary care and co-ordinated with the patient’s health support. The employment service will be implemented in Barnsley, Bassetlaw, Doncaster, Rotherham and Sheffield later this year. The service provides employment support to individuals with mild to moderate mental health and/or physical health conditions and who are (i) either unemployed and seeking work or (ii) who are in work but struggling at work as a result of their health or who are off-sick. Individuals will be voluntary participants of the service.
The SCR service is a modified form of Individual Placement and Support (IPS) service and fidelity scale and has been developed through an ongoing process of intensive co-design and engagement with local health partners and service users.
Service users will be given the support of trained IPS Employment Specialists – a personal caseworker for their core employment support needs and who co-ordinates wider health and support needs. These case workers will be responsible for supporting both in and out of work participants within a single service model, drawing on a range of activities/approaches to support their clients as required.
The programme will be evaluated using a randomised control trial (RCT) which means that following agreement to participate and the provision of written informed consent individuals will be randomly allocated to either an intervention group or a control group (business-as-usual employment and health support services). The evaluation is being conducted by independent researchers appointed and funded by the Department of Work and Pensions. The programme is funded by the Work and Health Unit (a joint Department of Work & Pensions (DWP) and Department of Health (DH) unit) and NHS England. The evaluation will start in October 2017 and should report in 2021.
REC name
East of England - Cambridge East Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
17/EE/0371
Date of REC Opinion
23 Oct 2017
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion