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DH Policy Research Programme

Department of Health Policy Research Programme
Invitation to tender

The Policy Research Programme (PRP) is a national programme of research dedicated to providing an evidence base for policy-making in the Department of Health (DH). It provides information to the Secretary of State for Health and his Ministers directly and through policy directorates in the Department and covers all aspects of the Department’s policy-making activity.

Applications will be considered from other UK countries provided they address the priority areas in a way that is relevant to the needs of the Department of Health (England) and meet all other selection criteria.

The specificity and sensitivity of medical examiners’ review to identify potentially avoidable deaths due to problems in care

  1. The Department of Health invites outline proposals for a single research project on the specificity and sensitivity of medical examiners’ review to identify potentially avoidable deaths due to problems in care. Funds of up to £600,000 are available to support this work, over around 24 months. The deadline for applications is 13 June 2016.
  1. The research should inform how medical examiner review of non-coroner death certification can work best alongside the more in-depth Retrospective Case Record Review (RCRR) developed by NHS England, so that organisations and professionals can better identify any possible problems with healthcare provision, and remedy these. This is a significant opportunity to inform policy in a vital area for the NHS, patients, staff and public.

            Issues for research include:

  • Establishing sensitivity and specificity will rely on review of the same case notes via both ME and RCRR processes, in relatively large samples. Researchers will therefore need to familiarise themselves with the PRISM work and specific relevant studies on ME pilots, in order to replicate the UK ME approach alongside the PRISM mortality review approach.
  • Researchers will need to consider how they will access and collaborate with ME pilot sites, as well as accessing and working with sites who are working with the RCP on the development and roll-out of the new RCRR methodology, if established within the timescales of this research. Whilst working directly with such sites may reduce burden, any practical methodology of delivering the research objectives is acceptable, including a replication of either or both methodologies outside their current pilots. 
  • Comparison of the two methodologies should assess both ways – researchers should also explore whether ME review processes (e.g. speaking to clinicians and family very soon after death) identify potential problems in care which case note reviews miss (as well as vice versa).

Read the full research specification document here.

 

National evaluation of the New Care Models programme

  1.  The Department of Health invites outline proposals for a single research project to provide an independent national evaluation of NHS England’s New Care Models programme. Funds of around £1.5 million will be available to support this work, over around 48 months. The deadline for applications is 13 June 2016.
  2. This is a significant opportunity to inform health and care transformation agenda that is currently taking place across the NHS in England.

We expect the independent evaluation to assess the impact on costs and outcomes of the New Care Models through the use of a mixed-methods approach; and will take place between years two and five of the programme (four years). This study will also assess the processes used to design and manage the programme. The work will have to be co-ordinated and complementary with the other parts of the evaluation, and should also not negatively impact on the sites ability to deliver the transformation they are planning. More specifically, the role of the independent evaluation team will be to:

  • Provide comparative analysis of outcomes, including patient experience, health inequalities and unintended consequences.
  • Provide in-depth economic analysis, including cost impact.
  • Investigate to what extent planned changes are implemented by vanguards.
  • Provide an assessment of the process used by NHSE to support design and implementation of New Care Models in the vanguards.
  • Synthesise the data and intelligence from national monitoring, and from local monitoring and evaluation, to interpret these and to draw conclusions.
  • Deliver a plan to share and communicate emerging learning from the vanguards. This is likely to include producing annual independent evaluation reports, annually throughout the programme which can provide input to new care models policy and design.

Read the full research specification document here.

A review of self-inflicted deaths in the Criminal Justice System – exploring contributory factors and identifying approaches

The Department of Health invites outline proposals for a single research project to provide evidence for a greater understanding of the rise in self-inflicted deaths across the Criminal Justice System (CJS) and to explore contributory factors and identify potential approaches to reverse this trend.

Funds of up to £250,000 are available to support this work, over around 24 months. The deadline for applications is 13 June 2016. This is a significant opportunity to inform policy in a vital area.

Issues for research might include:

  • How can vulnerable individuals be better identified.
  • Identification of gender and age specific vulnerabilities for each issue considered/ addressed.
  • How can risks be better anticipated and acted upon.
  • Examining the trends in self-inflicted deaths across the criminal justice system to establish any changes in rates in particular groups over time.
  • Examination of environmental and clinical antecedents to self-inflicted deaths. 
  • Contribution of the environment/regimes/conditions to risk factors.
  • Examining the barriers to implementing procedures and information sharing.
  • Examining emergency procedures/safety.
  • Describing and reviewing the contribution of changes to healthcare and prison officer training to reducing self-inflicted deaths.

The output of this research should help us to understand what policies and means of implementation appear to have been most effective in terms of identifying high risk individuals, along with the environmental and clinical antecedents, in order to support the reduction across the criminal justice system. 

Read the full research specification document here.