ARI 2: reduction of compound pressures on the NHS and social care

Research objective: Research to evaluate interventions to improve patient outcomes and reduce pressure across the health and care system through preventing avoidable admissions, innovations to make routine care more efficient and resilient, smart discharge, and through effective pandemic preparedness and new treatments to tackle a range of infectious diseases.

Priority research topics: Identifying factors across the system that drive admission, delayed discharge and readmission and using this information to design more effective and targeted interventions including systems approaches such as developing, evaluating and understanding:
- the role that all parts of the health system, from community and primary care through to hospital-based and social care, play in delivering better outcomes for people, and how the system can work effectively together to plan for and respond to compound pressures including infections with pandemic potential
- how to implement effective interventions to prevent avoidable admissions among vulnerable people (for example, warm homes, cool spaces, vaccination, hospital at home)
- how to implement effective preventive and treatment interventions for illnesses that cause excess burden in winter (such as influenza), during extreme heat and infections with pandemic potential
- how to implement interventions which enable routine health services to continue during times of increased pressure (for example, modern, minimally invasive procedures, online booking systems, care at home)
- how to implement interventions that can reduce hospital stay, promote smart discharge and reduce staff burden

Background

Compound pressures on the health and care system include additional health care needs in winter, during extreme heat events and during epidemics or pandemics. These interact with other pressures including increases in the cost of living, disease levels post-COVID and the operational pressures that the NHS and social care face. The UK’s ageing population and NHS workforce pressures mean that demand will continue to increase.

On average over 32,000 excess deaths occur every winter in England and Wales with approximately 40% of excess winter deaths attributable to cardiovascular diseases and around 33% to respiratory diseases, including respiratory syncytial virus and influenza which peak in winter. Excess heat events are projected to increase with climate change, with negative health impacts particularly for elderly and vulnerable people, while the health, social and economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic were huge.

Research is needed to identify those most at risk and to develop and evaluate interventions to prevent them from becoming unwell and intervening early if they do. For example, 26% of acute hospital admissions would be potentially avoidable if medical interventions were provided prior to admission (PDF, 344KB). Research is also needed on how best all parts of the health and care system can better prepare for and respond to these pressures, including pandemic preparedness. This research could improve public and patient outcomes, reduce costs to the NHS and social care, improve services and support economic growth.

Next steps

See https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/department-of-health-areas-of-research-interest/ for more information.

Source

This question was published as part of the set of ARIs in this document:

DHS Cs areas of research interest GOV UK

Related UKRI funded projects


  • Understanding the impacts of COVID-19 on the provision of NHS health care and patient outcomes

    We will provide a detailed description of the extent to which non-COVID-19 NHS activity has been affected by COVID-19, who is most affected, and how patient outcomes have changed. COVID-19 has led to enormous changes i...

    Funded by: COVID

    Lead research organisation: Imperial College London

    Why might this be relevant?

    Partially relevant as it focuses on the impacts of COVID-19 on NHS care and patient outcomes, but does not specifically address interventions to reduce compound pressures.

  • Modelling the pathways of Health and Social Care following on from the impact from COVID19

    As we hear on the news every day, it is already the case that COVID19 is impacting everyone's lives and the underlying statistics are pointing towards the elderly population being more vulnerable and at risk. Wolverhampt...

    Funded by: Innovate UK

    Lead research organisation: PI LIMITED

    Why might this be relevant?

    Partially relevant as it focuses on modelling pathways of health and social care post-COVID-19 impact, but does not directly address interventions to reduce compound pressures.

  • Covid-19 assessment tool development and deployment to care homes

    This project will develop a tool and help guide specifically aimed at care home and domiciliary worker support for pandemics such as Covid-19\. The tools will be made freely available to more than 9,000 existing Whzan en...

    Funded by: Innovate UK

    Lead research organisation: SOLCOM LIMITED

    Why might this be relevant?

    Fully relevant as it specifically focuses on developing a Covid-19 assessment tool for care homes to support pandemics and reduce pressure on the NHS.

  • SHREWD Elective

    **The Problem: _Planned care is under unprecedented pressure following COVID-19_** Nationally, it has been recognised that safe and timely performance in planned care will be an increasing challenge year on year, primar...

    Funded by: Innovate UK

    Lead research organisation: TRANSFORMING SYSTEMS LIMITED

  • Dynamic demand planning

    CARE Planner is an online tool which acute NHS trusts can use plan and prioritise demand and capacity in the wake of COVID19\. The response of our NHS to COVID19 is extraordinary. Measures such as cancelling all electiv...

    Funded by: Innovate UK

    Lead research organisation: EDGE HEALTH LTD

  • efficiently managing the continuity of care of patients with Chronic illnesses during a national emergency.

    PeopleWith have presented their app to the NHS to allow for the management of patients through remote digital channels throughout the Covid19 pandemic and beyond. Covid-19 has led to the suspension of a number of servic...

    Funded by: Innovate UK

    Lead research organisation: PEOPLE WITH LIMITED

  • IMPACT OF COVID-19 PANDEMIC ON CARE HOME PATHWAYS, OUTCOMES AND SAFETY OF CARE

    The COVID-19 pandemic seriously affected care home residents leading to a doubling in the number of deaths with the North East being particularly badly affected. This research will seek to understand how residents who fe...

    Funded by: COVID

    Lead research organisation: Lancaster University

  • Using data to improve public health: COVID-19 secondment

    The COVID-19 pandemic has placed large pressures on the NHS. Initially faced with an uncertain future, the NHS responded through cancelling all non-emergency care to make space to treat patients with COVID-19. While the ...

    Funded by: COVID

    Lead research organisation: University of Liverpool

  • Fast ASsessment and Treatment in Healthcare (FAST Healthcare)

    NHS England produced a publication in its 65th anniversary year (2013) entitled 'The NHS Belongs to the People: A Call to Action'. It articulates the aspiration to deliver the very highest standards of patient care again...

    Funded by: EPSRC

    Lead research organisation: University of Cambridge

  • COVID-19: Burden and impact in care homes - a mixed methods study

    The COVID-19 pandemic poses a substantial risk to elderly and vulnerable care home residents and COVID-19 can spread rapidly in care homes. We have national, daily data on people with COVID-19 and deaths, but there is no...

    Funded by: COVID

    Lead research organisation: University College London

Similar ARIs from other organisations