Programme outline
The research was divided into several workstreams that looked at various aspects of the ways in which services are arranged and evaluated.
Workstream one
Workstream one used existing NHS data to look at the relationship between the way services are organised and outcomes. It provided data that helped to inform the likely effects of any re-organisation of services.
Much of the research was based upon routinely collected data supplied by NHS Digital.
Read the Privacy Notice (PDF, 40KB) relating to the use of HES data supplied by NHS Digital.
Workstream two
Workstream two carried out a thorough evaluation of the various outcome measures that are already available to vascular services in order to assess the quality of the service and outcomes.
It developed new methods of evaluating outcomes that can be used to assist clinicians and patients in managing their condition and can also be used to evaluate the overall quality of services that are being provided.
This resulted in the development of a new electronic patient assessment questionnaire (the ePAQ-VAS) which can be used to collect information relevant to most of the patients treated by vascular services.
Workstream three
Workstream three focused on evaluating the strength of patients preferences for various aspects of service that are affected by re-organisation, including both clinical aspects of the service and non-clinical aspects of the organisation, such as travelling distances and locality.
Workstream four
Workstream four brought together the evidence from the other workstreams and created computer models of the ways in which patients with vascular disease are treated that allow a prediction of the effects of re-organising services on workload, outcomes and the use of resources.