Integrated working for enhanced healthcare in English nursing homes

Background: The increasingly complex nature of care home residents’ health status means that this population requires significant multi-disciplinary team input from health services. To address this, a multi-sector and multi-professional enhanced healthcare programme was implemented in nursing homes across Gateshead Council in Northern England. Study aim: To explore the views and experiences of practitioners, social care officers and carers involved in the enhanced healthcare in care home programme, in order to develop understanding of the service delivery model and associated workforce needs for the provision of healthcare to older residents. Method: A qualitative constructivist methodology was adopted. The study had two stages. Stage one explored the experiences of the programme enhanced healthcare workforce through group, dyad and individual interviews with 45 participants. Stage two involved two workshops with 28 participants to develop stage one findings (data was collected during February - March 2016). Thematic and content analysis were applied. Findings: The enhanced healthcare programme provides a whole system approach to the delivery of proactive and responsive care for nursing home residents. The service model enables information exchange across organisational and professional boundaries that support effective decision making and problem solving.