Benefits of a collaborative approach to service evaluation in urgent care
Intended for healthcare professionals
Evidence and practice    

Benefits of a collaborative approach to service evaluation in urgent care

Craig Brown Specialist clinical lead for NHS 111 Wales, Welsh Ambulance Services NHS Trust, St Asaph, Wales
Deborah Armstrong Head of education, professional and clinical practice (nursing), Welsh Ambulance Services NHS Trust, St Asaph, Wales
Alexandra Gibbins Professional lead for NHS 111 Wales pharmacists, Cwm Taf Morgannwg University Health Board, Abercynon, Wales
Rhiannon Roynon Locality manager for clinical support desk, Welsh Ambulance Services NHS Trust, St Asaph, Wales
Alice Groves Clinical director GP out of hours, Aneurin Bevan University Health Board, Newport, Wales
Alastair Richards Clinical director emergency medicine, Aneurin Bevan University Health Board, Newport, Wales
Claire McCarthy Nurse consultant for emergency care, Aneurin Bevan University Health Board, Newport, Wales
Richard Bowen National programme director, six goals for urgent and emergency care, Aneurin Bevan University Health Board, Newport, Wales
Helena White Specialist clinical lead for NHS 111 Wales, Welsh Ambulance Services NHS Trust, St Asaph, Wales
Mike Brady Consultant clinician NHS 111 Wales, Welsh Ambulance Services NHS Trust, St Asaph, Wales

Why you should read this article:
  • To recognise that collaboration and service evaluation are important to enable high-quality care

  • To be aware of the benefits and challenges of collaborative service evaluation that involves staff from different clinical professions

  • To identify the value of interdisciplinary tabletop exercises in evaluating services

Collaboration and service evaluation are essential enablers for improving models of health and social care. Significant benefits can be achieved when they are combined to form a collaborative service evaluation, particularly when such collaboration involves different clinical professions.

This article uses the NHS 111 Wales service to explore a simple example of collaborative service evaluation and to discuss the benefits and challenges identified. While the tabletop exercises described were expected to focus solely on compliance data and the reasons for non-compliance, broader learning was identified for all parties involved. It became clear that there was a lack of shared understanding of each service, and that there were opportunities for education and opportunities to develop new national pathways. It is hoped that readers may be able to compare, learn and possibly replicate the collaborative approach used in their practice settings to achieve similar outcomes.

Emergency Nurse. doi: 10.7748/en.2022.e2160

Peer review

This article has been subject to external double-blind peer review and checked for plagiarism using automated software

@DrMikeBrady1

Correspondence

mike.brady@wales.nhs.uk

Conflict of interest

None declared

Brown C, Armstrong D, Gibbins A et al (2022) Benefits of a collaborative approach to service evaluation in urgent care. Emergency Nurse. doi: 10.7748/en.2022.e2160

Acknowledgement

The authors would like to thank the large number of staff involved in the tabletop exercises from a range of clinical professions and roles in integrated urgent care

Published online: 22 November 2022

Want to read more?

RCNi-Plus
Already have access? Log in

or

3-month trial offer for £5.25/month

Subscribe today and save 50% on your first three months
RCNi Plus users have full access to the following benefits:
  • Unlimited access to all 10 RCNi Journals
  • RCNi Learning featuring over 175 modules to easily earn CPD time
  • NMC-compliant RCNi Revalidation Portfolio to stay on track with your progress
  • Personalised newsletters tailored to your interests
  • A customisable dashboard with over 200 topics
Subscribe

Alternatively, you can purchase access to this article for the next seven days. Buy now


Are you a student? Our student subscription has content especially for you.
Find out more