Care 'In Place' (CIP) Care Home Assessment Tool (CHAT) Stages 1 & 2
Project impact
Development of an adaptable clinical assessment tool for Care Homes and a service wraparound model
Assets developed to support sharing of information between health and social care
This project aimed to rapidly develop and test the Care Homes Assessment Tool (CHAT) in at least two Health Boards/HSCP areas. CHAT supports staff in assessing, triaging, and accessing specialist clinical input for resident treatment.
This was a partnership project led jointly by DHI and Scottish Care, involving NES, NHS Lanarkshire, NHS Greater Glasgow & Clyde, DaySix and a number of care homes in the Lanarkshire and Glasgow areas. The principal objective was to rapidly develop and test a live implementation of the CHAT in at least two Health Board/HSCP areas to improve local operational decision-making in Care Homes, aid communication in situations where external clinical support is required and provide early notification of a potential viral outbreak within this sector.
This project developed a care home assessment tool that supported staff to assess, triage and where appropriate access specialist clinical input for treatment of their residents during COVID-19. Stage 1 of the project was a Test of Change which produced a wireframe of a digital tool which was co-designed with citizens, service and clinical staff and stakeholders. This could be used to develop a web-based application (based on a Clinical Assessment Tool already developed by NES). Stage 2 was formally launched in July 2020 and involved the trial of the tool in a number of care homes in NHS Lanarkshire and Glasgow.
Summary
Partners
Impact & value
A working prototype was implemented in two health boards, NHS GG&C and NHS Lanarkshire, with the tool initially being implemented in Cartvale Care Home (NHS GG&C) and Greenhills Care Home (NHS Lanarkshire) and later more care homes in NHS Lanarkshire. The number of assessments undertaken was low due to a number of factors including staff levels being impacted by COVID-19; outbreaks of COVID within the Care Home; staff recruitment and retention; prioritisation of the vaccine programme over symptom detection.
The learning around the use of the assessment tool in care home settings and the sharing of information between health and care services was trailblazing at the time, and has produced a number of useful assets for future work around the challenges of care homes working collaboratively with NHS services. Furthermore, staff were very positive about the application’s capabilities and usefulness within the care homes and this was also recognised by the associated GP’s.
Progress to date
Staff related to the project
Next steps