SDO Programme
Evidence is very important to ImpAct so it is good news that work progresses with a new research programme looking the organisation of services: the NHS Service Delivery and Organisation (SDO) Research & Development programme . It will promote the use of research evidence about how the organisation and delivery of services can be improved to increase the quality of patient care, ensure better patient outcomes, and contribute to improved population health.
The programme is being managed by a National Co-ordinating Centre (NCCSDO) at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. Dr Maureen Dalziel is the programme Director. The Centre was set up in April 1999 and the programme formally launched in March 2000 by Lord Hunt, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Health. The Centre combines academic expertise in SDO research with programme management. Its staff have health service management, clinical, research and administrative backgrounds. It supports the programme director by:
- Providing a national focus for SDO R&D.
- By identifying and prioritising topics, commissioning research and project management.
- Linking with a wide range of stakeholders including those that make use of, deliver and determine health services as well as those who manage and conduct research.
The Centre aims to create a body of knowledge on service delivery and organisation research by drawing on relevant knowledge and by building networks from within and outside the health service.
Research themes
In autumn 1999 the NCCSDO organised a national 'listening exercise' to help them understand the issues which are most important to those delivering and organising services and to those receiving them. Over 350 people were involved. Ten themes that will inform the SDO programme of work were identified (Table).
Themes for SDO
- Organising health services around the needs of the patient
- User involvement
- Continuity of care
- Co-ordination/integration across organisations
- Inter-professional working
- Workforce issues
- Relationship between organisational form, function and outcomes
- Implications of the communication revolution
- The use of resources, such as ways of disinvesting in services and managing demand
- Implementation of major national policy initiatives such as the national service frameworks.
In the meantime three pieces of work are in hand.
First, a scoping study to identify further areas of research on the continuity of care.
Second, a review of models of change management: the findings from this will be published in autumn 2000 in various forms including a user-friendly manual for managers.
Third, a synthesis of research methods relevant to SDO issues.
For further information contact
Kate Thomas
Co-ordinator
NCCSDO
London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine
99 Gower Street
London WC1E 6AZ
Telephone 020 7612 7980
Fax 020 7612 7979
Email sdo@lshtm.ac.uk
Copies of the SDO publication are available.
National Listening Exercise: Report of the Findings and Using Research to Improve Health Care Services