BackgroundThe International Consortium for Health Outcomes Measurement (ICHOM) was founded in 2012 to propose consensus-based measurement tools and documentation for different conditions and populations.This article describes how the ICHOM Older Person Working Group followed a consensus-driven modified Delphi technique to develop multiple global outcome measures in older persons.The standard set of outcome measures developed by this group will support the ability of healthcare systems to improve their care pathways and quality of care. An additional benefit will be the opportunity to compare variations in outcomes which encourages and supports learning between different health care systems that drives quality improvement. These outcome measures were not developed for use in research. They are aimed at non researchers in healthcare provision and those who pay for these services.MethodsA modified Delphi technique utilising a value based healthcare framework was applied by an international panel to arrive at consensus decisions.To inform the panel meetings, information was sought from literature reviews, longitudinal ageing surveys and a focus group.ResultsThe outcome measures developed and recommended were participation in decision making, autonomy and control, mood and emotional health, loneliness and isolation, pain, activities of daily living, frailty, time spent in hospital, overall survival, carer burden, polypharmacy, falls and place of death mapped to a three tier value based healthcare framework.ConclusionsThe first global health standard set of outcome measures in older persons has been developed to enable health care systems improve the quality of care provided to older persons.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (10.1186/s12877-017-0701-3) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

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Background: The daily management of long-term conditions falls primarily on individuals and informal carers, but the impact of household context on health and social care activity among people with multimorbidity is understudied. Aim: To test whether co-residence with a multimorbid person (compared with a non-multimorbid co-resident) is associated with utilisation and cost of primary, community and secondary health care and formal social care. Design and Setting: Linked data from health providers and local government in Barking and Dagenham for a retrospective cohort of people aged 50+ in two-person households in 2016-2018. Methods: Two-part regression models were applied to estimate annualised use and cost of hospital, primary, community, mental health and social care by multimorbidity status of individuals and co-residents, adjusted for age, gender and deprivation. Applicability at the national level was tested using the Clinical Practice Research Datalink. Results: Over 45% of multimorbid people in two-person households were co-resident with another multimorbid person. They were 1.14 (95% CI 1.00, 1.30) times as likely to have community care activity and 1.24 (95% CI 0.99,1.54) times as likely to have mental health care activity compared to those co-resident with a healthy person. They had more primary care visits (8.5 (95% CI 8.2,8.8) vs 7.9 (95% CI 7.7,8.2)) and higher primary care costs. Outpatient care and elective admissions did not differ. Findings in national data were similar. Conclusions: Care utilisation for people with multimorbidity varies by household context. There may be potential for connecting health and community service input across household members.

Objective: A growing proportion of older people live in care homes and are at high risk of preventable harm. This study describes a participatory qualitative evaluation of a complex safety improvement intervention, comprising training, performance measurement and culture-change elements, on the safety of care provided for residents. Design: A participatory qualitative study. Setting: Ninety care homes in one geographical locality in southern England. Participants: A purposeful sample of care home managers, front-line staff, residents, quality improvement facilitators and trainers, local government and health service commissioners, and an embedded researcher. Main outcome measures: Changes in care home culture and work processes, assessed using documentary analysis, interviews, observations and surveys and analysed using a framework-based thematic approach. Results: Participation in the programme appears to have led to changes in the value that staff place on resident safety and to changes in their working practices, in particular in relation to their desire to proactively manage resident risk and their willingness to use data to examine established practice. The results suggest that there is a high level of commitment among care home staff to address the problem of preventable harm. Mobilisation of this commitment appears to benefit from external facilitation and the introduction of new methods and tools. Conclusions: An evidence-based approach to reducing preventable harm in care homes, comprising an intervention with both technical and social components, can lead to changes in staff priorities and practices which have the potential to improve outcomes for people who live in care homes.

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Background In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the first vaccine was administered in December 2020 in England. However, vaccination uptake has historically been lower in London than in other English regions. Methods Mixed-methods: This comprised an analysis of cumulative percentage uptake across London between 8 December 2020 and 6 June 2021 by vaccine priority cohorts and ethnicity. We also undertook thematic analyses of uptake barriers, interventions to tackle these and key learning from a qualitative survey of 27 London local authority representatives, vaccine plans from London’s five Integrated Care Systems and interviews with 38 London system representatives. Results Vaccine uptake was lower in Black ethnic (57–65% uptake) compared with the White British group (90% uptake). Trust was a critical issue, including mistrust in the vaccine itself and in authorities administering or promoting it. The balance between putative costs and benefits of vaccination created uptake barriers for zero-hour and shift workers. Intensive, targeted and ‘hyper-local’ initiatives, which sustained community relationships and were not constrained by administrative boundaries, helped tackle these barriers. Conclusions The success of the national vaccination programme depended on conceding local autonomy, investing in responsive and long-term partnerships to engender trust through in-depth understanding of communities’ beliefs.

Background Understanding the cultural characteristics of healthcare organisations is widely recognised to be an important component of patient safety. A growing number of vulnerable older people are living in care homes but little attention has been paid to safety culture in this sector. In this study we aimed to adapt the Manchester Patient Safety Framework (MaPSaF), a commonly used tool in the health sector, for use in care homes and then to test its face validity and preliminary feasibility as a tool for developing a better understanding of safety culture in the sector.Methods As part of a wider improvement programme to reduce the prevalence of falls, pressure ulcers and urinary tract infections amongst residents in 90 care homes in England, we carried out a multi-method participatory evaluation of the adaptation of MaPSaF and its face validity and feasibility for care home staff. Data were collected using participant observation, interviews, documentary anlaysis and a survey, and were analysed thematically.Results MapSaf required considerable adaptation in terms of its length, language and content in order for it to be perceived to be acceptable and useful to care home staff. The changes reflected differences between the health and care home sectors in terms of the local context and wider policy environment, and the expectations, capacity and capabilities of the staff.Conclusions A new tool, named 'Culture is Key' was developed and has the potential to be used more widely in care homes to address deficiencies in resident care by deepening staff understanding of the safety culture of their organisations. words

Purpose Structural integration is increasingly explored as a means of achieving efficiency gains alongside improved health outcomes. In 2015, three boroughs in London, England began working together to develop an Accountable Care Organisation for the 750,000 population they serve. The purpose of this paper is to understand the experiences of working across organisational and sectoral boundaries for the benefit of the population, including enablers and barriers encountered, the role of financial incentives and perspectives on Accountable Care Organisations. Design/methodology/approach A single site instrumental case study involving 35 semi-structured interviews using a topic guide, with key leaders and decision makers from the site and nationally, between April 2016 and August 2016. Findings There are differences in levels of autonomy and operational priorities between councils and the NHS. Existing financial mechanisms can be used to overcome sectoral boundaries, but require strong leadership to implement. There are challenges associated with primary care participating in integration, including reluctance for small organisations to adopt the risk associated with large scale programmes. Interviewees were aligned on espoused ambitions for the Accountable Care Organisation but not on whether one organisation was needed to deliver these in practice. Research limitations/implications Progressing the integration agenda requires consideration of the context of primary care and the core differences between health and government. Further, research into ACOs is required as they may not be required to deliver the anticipated integration and system outcomes. Understanding if there are specific population groups for whom cross-organisation and cross-sector working could have particular benefits would help to target efforts. Originality/value This paper highlights some of the challenges associated with cross-sector collaboration.