Loss associated with subtractive health service change: The case of specialist cancer centralization in England.

OBJECTIVE: Major system change can be stressful for staff involved and can result in 'subtractive change' - that is, when a part of the work environment is removed or ceases to exist. Little is known about the response to loss of activity resulting from such changes. Our aim was to understand perceptions of loss in response to centralization of cancer services in England, where 12 sites offering specialist surgery were reduced to four, and to understand the impact of leadership and management on enabling or hampering coping strategies associated with that loss. METHODS: We analysed 115 interviews with clinical, nursing and managerial staff from oesophago-gastric, prostate/bladder and renal cancer services in London and West Essex. In addition, we used 134 hours of observational data and analysis from over 100 documents to contextualize and to interpret the interview data. We performed a thematic analysis drawing on stress-coping theory and organizational change. RESULTS: Staff perceived that, during centralization, sites were devalued as the sites lost surgical activity, skills and experienced teams. Staff members believed that there were long-term implications for this loss, such as in retaining high-calibre staff, attracting trainees and maintaining autonomy. Emotional repercussions for staff included perceived loss of status and motivation. To mitigate these losses, leaders in the centralization process put in place some instrumental measures, such as joint contracting, surgical skill development opportunities and trainee rotation. However, these measures were undermined by patchy implementation and negative impacts on some individuals (e.g. increased workload or travel time). Relatively little emotional support was perceived to be offered. Leaders sometimes characterized adverse emotional reactions to the centralization as resistance, to be overcome through persuasion and appeals to the success of the new system. CONCLUSIONS: Large-scale reorganizations are likely to provoke a high degree of emotion and perceptions of loss. Resources to foster coping and resilience should be made available to all organizations within the system as they go through major change.

Implementing major system change in specialist cancer surgery: The role of provider networks.

OBJECTIVE: Major system change (MSC) has multiple, sometimes conflicting, goals and involves implementing change across a number of organizations. This study sought to develop new understanding of how the role that networks can play in implementing MSC, using the case of centralization of specialist cancer surgery in London, UK. METHODS: The study was based on a framework drawn from literature on networks and MSC. We analysed 100 documents, conducted 134 h of observations during relevant meetings and 81 interviews with stakeholders involved in the centralization. We analysed the data using thematic analysis. RESULTS: MSC in specialist cancer services was a contested process, which required constancy in network leadership over several years, and its horizontal and vertical distribution across the network. A core central team composed of network leaders, managers and clinical/manager hybrid roles was tasked with implementing the changes. This team developed different forms of engagement with provider organizations and other stakeholders. Some actors across the network, including clinicians and patients, questioned the rationale for the changes, the clinical evidence used to support the case for change, and the ways in which the changes were implemented. CONCLUSIONS: Our study provides new understanding of MSC by discussing the strategies used by a provider network to facilitate complex changes in a health care context in the absence of a system-wide authority.

Can we normalise developmentally appropriate health care for young people in UK hospital settings? An ethnographic study.

OBJECTIVE: The WHO has argued that adolescent-responsive health systems are required. Developmentally appropriate healthcare (DAH) for young people is one approach that could underpin this move. The aim of this study was to explore the potential for DAH to become normalised, to become a routine, taken-for-granted, element of clinical practice. DESIGN: Qualitative ethnographic study. Analyses were based on procedures from first-generation grounded theory and theoretically informed by normalisation process theory. SETTING: Two tertiary and one secondary care hospital in England. PARTICIPANTS: 192 participants, health professionals (n=121) and managers (n=71) were recruited between June 2013 and January 2015. Approximately 1600 hours of non-participant observations in clinics, wards and meeting rooms were conducted, alongside 65 formal qualitative interviews. RESULTS: We observed diverse values and commitments towards the care of young people and provision of DAH, including a distributed network of young person-orientated practitioners. Informal networks of trust existed, where specific people, teams or wards were understood to have the right skill-mix, or mindset, or access to resources, to work effectively with young people. As young people move through an organisation, the preference is to direct them to other young person-orientated practitioners, so inequities in skills and experience can be self-sustaining. At two sites, initiatives around adolescent and young adult training remained mostly within these informal networks of trust. At another, through support by wider management, we observed a programme that sought to make the young people's healthcare visible across the organisation, and to get people to reappraise values and commitment. CONCLUSION: To move towards normalisation of DAH within an organisation, we cannot solely rely on informal networks and cultures of young person-orientated training, practice and mutual referral and support. Organisation-wide strategies and training are needed, to enable better integration and consistency of health services for all young people.

One to one specialling and sitters in acute care hospitals: A scoping review.

BACKGROUND: One to one specialling is a type of care which is provided to ensure the safety of patients who may be suffering from cognitive impairment, exhibit challenging behaviour, or may be at risk of falls or of causing harm to themselves or others. Care such as this, often referred to as 'specialling' or 'sitting' is common practice in most hospitals around the world, but there is a lack of evidence regarding its cost effectiveness and the quality of care provided. AIM: The aim of this scoping review was to explore the breadth and scope of literature on one to one specialling, sitters and similar types of care in acute secondary care settings, in order to identify the challenges and concerns relating to the quality of care (process and outcomes) and cost effectiveness emerging from the literature, and determine the implications of this for policy, practice and future research. DESIGN: This review was based on scoping review methodology following a five stage scoping review process. A keyword search was conducted in the following databases: MEDLINE, Scopus, CINAHL Plus, Web of Science, ProQuest Social Science, and ProQuest Nursing and Allied Health. The time limit placed on the search was January 2000 to April 2016. Inclusion and exclusion criteria were applied. The Mixed Methods Appraisal Tool was used to assess the quality of primary research articles. FINDINGS: Forty-four articles were included in the review. We found a lack of clarity in the terms used to describe one to one specialling and variability in what this type of care entails, who provides the care and the needs of patients requiring this type of care. High costs of specialling are often seen as a concern, but there was a lack of economic evaluations considering the full cost of specialling and balancing these against the benefits. Some of the articles proposed alternatives to one to one specialling or the use of sitters, but only some of these were evaluated. CONCLUSION: There is wide variation in what specialling and one to one care entails, which can in turn lead to the provision of poor quality care. A reduction in this variation and improved quality care might be achieved through the development of guidelines, training and standardized decision-making tools. Further research on the impact of one to one specialling on patient outcomes and cost would be beneficial, as well as robust evaluations of the alternatives to specialling.

A novel inpatient complex pain team: protocol for a mixed-methods evaluation of a single-centre pilot study.

INTRODUCTION: Complex pain is a debilitating condition that is responsible for low quality of life and significant economic impacts. Although best practice in the treatment of complex pain employs a multidisciplinary team, many patients do not have access to this care, leading to poor outcomes. METHODS AND ANALYSIS: This study evaluates a novel inpatient complex pain team at a large London teaching hospital. A multidisciplinary pain team comprising specialist doctors, nurses, psychologists and physiotherapists was instituted for inpatients with complex pain who will undergo an intense and bespoke evidence-based programme which will then be integrated into the community. A mixed-methods evaluation will take place and patients will be recruited over the course of 1 year. A qualitative arm will interview 15 staff and 15 patients on recruitment and again 6 months later looking to compare and contrast the new pain team with past experiences of pain management. A quantitative arm will assess clinical outcomes using validated scoring tools. An economic evaluation will seek to evaluate the relative cost of the service by comparing healthcare costs before and after the intervention. ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION: The study was categorised as a service evaluation, so formal ethical approval was not considered necessary. Participant recruitment began in January 2016 and the 1-year follow-up will end in November 2017. The results of this study will be published in 2018.

'Therapeutic landscapes' and the importance of nostalgia, solastalgia, salvage and abandonment for psychiatric hospital design.

We examine emotional reactions to changes to medical spaces of care, linked with past experiences. In this paper we draw on findings from a qualitative study of the transfer of psychiatric inpatient care from an old to a newly built facility. We show how the meanings attributed to 'therapeutic landscapes' from one׳s past can evoke emotions and memories, manifesting in ideas about nostalgia, solastalgia, salvage and abandonment, which can impinge on one׳s present therapeutic experience. We reflect on how consideration of these ideas might contribute to better future design of psychiatric inpatient facilities and the wellbeing of those using them.

Spaces for smoking in a psychiatric hospital: social capital, resistance to control, and significance for 'therapeutic landscapes'.

This paper reports on research framed by theories of therapeutic landscapes and the ways that the social, physical and symbolic dimensions of landscapes relate to wellbeing and healing. We focus especially on the question of how attributes of therapeutic landscapes are constructed in different ways according to the variable perspectives of individuals and groups. Through an ethnographic case study in a psychiatric hospital in the North of England we explore the perceived significance for wellbeing of 'smoking spaces' (where tobacco smoking is practiced in ways that may, or may not be officially sanctioned). We interpret our findings in light of literature on how smoking spaces are linked to the socio-geographical power relations that determine how smoking is organised within the hospital and how this is understood by different groups using the hospital building. We draw on qualitative research findings from discussion groups, observations, and interviews with patients, carers and staff. These focused on their views about the building design and setting of the new psychiatric hospital in relation to their wellbeing, and issues relating to smoking spaces emerged as important for many participants. Creating and managing smoking spaces as a public health measure in psychiatric hospitals is shown to be a controversial issue involving conflicting aims for health and wellbeing of patients and staff. Our findings indicate that although from a physical health perspective, smoking is detrimental, the spaces in which patients and staff smoke have social and psychological significance, providing a forum for the creation of social capital and resistance to institutional control. While the findings relate to one case study setting, the paper illustrates issues of wider relevance and contributes to an international literature concerning the tensions between perceived psychological and psychosocial benefits of smoking vs. physical harm that smoking is likely to cause. We consider the implications for hospital design and the model of care.

Creating 'therapeutic landscapes' for mental health carers in inpatient settings: a dynamic perspective on permeability and inclusivity.

Although there has been a shift toward treatment in the home and the community, in the UK, inpatient facilities are still important in modern mental health care. 'Informal carers', including family members, often play an essential role, not only in providing care in the community but also in care of patients during periods of hospitalisation. UK National Health Service policies increasingly consider the position of these carers as 'partners' in the care process, but relatively little attention has been paid to their position within the hospital settings where treatment is provided for inpatients. This paper contributes to geographical work on carers experiences, by reporting how this issue emerged through a study focused on perceptions of a newly built hospital, compared with the inpatient facilities it replaced. We draw on qualitative research findings from discussion groups and interviews with informal carers. The material considered here focused especially on carers' views of aspects of the hospital environment that were important for wellbeing of carers and the people they look after. The carers' views were supplemented by relevant material drawn from other interviews from our wider study, which included service users and members of hospital staff. These accounts revealed how informal carers experienced the hospital environment; we interpret our findings through a conceptual framework that emphasises carers' experiences of a 'journey' along a 'caring pathway' to and through the hospital space. This perspective allows us to make a connection between three bodies of literature. The first relates to phenomenological interpretations of one's environmental perception, formed as one moves through the world. The second derives from the literature concerning 'permeability' of hospital institutions. Bringing these ideas together provides an innovative, dynamic perspective on a third strand of literature from health geography that examines hospitals as 'therapeutic landscapes'. The analysis helps to explore the extent to which carers in this study were positioned as 'outsiders' in the hospital space.