DOI: 10.3310/hsdr01070
HEALTH SERVICES AND DELIVERY RESEARCH 2013 VOL. 1 NO. 7
Table 26 shows how confident diary participants from each of the four teams were feeling that the work that they were involved in to improve care in Westpark would impact on: l l l
the quality of patient care levels of staff motivation their own personal satisfaction at work.
Respondents were generally less confident that the WI would impact on staff motivation and more confident that their work would improve the quality of patient care, with the anxiety and depression in BME populations and diabetes team members being the most confident. TABLE 26 ‘How confident are you feeling today that the work that you are involved in to improve care in Westpark (relating to each of the topic areas) will impact on:’ Rating average (1 = ‘strongly disagree’ to 5 = ‘strongly agree’) Team
Quality of patient care
Staff motivation
Personal satisfaction
Anxiety and depression in BME populations (18 diaries)
4.33
3.33
4.00
Dementia (two diaries)
3.50
3.50
3.50
Child and family health services (six diaries)
3.66
3.66
4.00
Diabetes (eight diaries)
4.38
3.63
3.88
Overall
4.12
3.35
4.00
Diary example 1: anxiety and depression in black and minority ethnic populations Pam (WIP10J) is a CBT therapist and WI team member of the anxiety and depression group. An active member throughout the study period, she agreed to be interviewed twice and completed four diaries, enthusiastically taking part in all research activities. She had been working as an office worker at a health insurance provider before becoming a therapist and was now proud to be working as a mental health link worker with patients at a Westpark general practice that was close to home. She completed four online diaries across 14 weeks in the summer of 2011 and her follow-up interview was completed in September 2011.
In June 2011, Pam wrote about how important ‘instant’ interactions between primary care colleagues were, particularly in the form of telephone calls, e-mails and regular meetings between herself and her supervisor to discuss complex patient cases. Pam described improved sharing of knowledge relating to referral pathways, especially making connections with secondary care. However, she was frustrated at having to overcome last-minute cancellations and poor co-ordination by practice managers, as well as having to travel for supervision (which meant that she lost patient care time and missed targets). As Pam wrote in her first diary, her motivation increased after effective meetings to inform GPs about local services: Really exciting that last week I was able to arrange a meeting with GP’s and dementia services from secondary care, which took place where I work. It was exciting as dementia services have been trying for many years to get a step in the door but have been unsuccessful due to time pressures and non-responsive practice managers . . . . We were successful in increasing dementia awareness to a total of eight GP’s. They found the presentation interesting, informative and as a result many questions from both sides were clarified and resolved. The meeting has also opened up a whole new dialogue on how dementia services can cross refer care for people diagnosed with dementia to mental health services
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