The evaluation of preventative interventions for Health & Social Care Support

Descriptions

Demand on health and care services is rising, creating pressure on services, waiting lists, delays in accessing care and financial pressure. In response, there is a national and local drive to manage demand on health and care services, prevent development of escalating care needs and focus on promoting good health and wellbeing. Surrey County Council also recognise how this approach heavily relies on the voluntary, community and social enterprise sector (VCSE). However this sector has faced increasing financial difficulty since the pandemic, with reductions in donations and constraints on grants from statutory organisations. Surrey County Council wants to understand the most effective and focused investment in prevention that will achieve the greatest return against our priorities, and how we may increase the sustainability of the crucial VCSE organisations. Prevention must also be considered in its widest form, including the variety of interventions at different distances upstream and at different scales across the County. SCIE highlight the deficiencies in the current evidence base for prevention (https://www.scie.org.uk/integrated-care/prevention-in-social-care/#evidence), which we wish to address locally. New relational models of care have been nationally evidenced as effective, and we wish to add to the local evidence base for endorsing these ways of working. Surrey County Council already have five complementary workstreams underway: • WorkWell – this programme offers holistic support to residents off work under a fit note, recognising this as an indicator of decreasing health and wellbeing and an opportunity to intervene preventatively. This programme aims to see 7200 people by March 2026. • Green Health and wellbeing – Aiming to support people with mental health and neurodevelopmental needs to access interventions via green social prescribing to limit escalation of their care and support needs. This includes NEET young people, and young people on neurodevelopmental waiting lists, as well as adults experiencing health inequality • Accelerator Reform Funded model of social prescribing to support residents in touch with probation and frequent attenders at A&E. • An impact evaluation of the VCSE – aiming to understand the impact made by the VCSE against organisational and system priorities as set out in the health and wellbeing strategy. • Predictive analytics in adult social care – aiming to understanding the predictive factors that are a precursor to developing social care needs. National Evaluation Both WorkWell and Green Health and Wellbeing are also being nationally evaluated which will provide learning from a range of 20 other sites piloting these programmes. In addition, the Surrey Bridge the Gap programme is part of a national evaluation conducted by Sheffield University, and relevant reports such as the Burning Platform analysis. AIM Through this research we want to: • Research and baseline the current impact of fit notes in Surrey, understanding the scale and reason, the sectors most impacted and the economic impacts. • Evaluate individually the WorkWell, Green Health and Wellbeing and social prescribing interventions, providing assessment of the efficacy of the interventions, and the delivery process. • Compare the impact of other approaches including information and advice provision and relational delivery models such as Surrey’s Bridge the Gap, by drawing on national evaluations such as Policy Evaluation and Research Unit. . • Develop an evidenced approach to investing in prevention, with a clear understanding of the expected impacts and return on investment