The variation in acute and community service provision of care of the elderly services across the Scotland: Findings from the Scottish Care of Older People (SCoOP) National Audit initial scoping survey

Alison I. C. Donaldson, Samuel R. Neal, Christine H. McAlpine, Terence Quinn, Susan D. Shenkin, Graham Ellis, Phyo K. Myint* (Corresponding Author), SCoOP Steering Group

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

2 Citations (Scopus)
7 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

Background

This scoping survey is a preliminary part of the Scottish Care of Older People (SCoOP) audit programme which aims to assess specialist service provision for older people with frailty in Scotland, and provide benchmarking data for improving.

Methods

The survey was distributed to nominated consultant geriatricians known to be based in 12 of the 14 Scottish health boards who completed data on the ‘best of their knowledge’. Data collected were: consultant and specialty doctor level workforce; days of frailty unit operation; MDT frequency; physiotherapy and occupational therapy availability. Consultant cover was correlated with population data, and scores for service components used to derive separate acute and community service provision scores.

Results

Consultant geriatrician availability varies widely across Scottish health boards with a median (range; interquartile range (IQR)) of 1.45 (0.54-2.40; IQR 0.71-2.28) FTE consultant geriatricians per 10,000 people ≥ 65 years. Variation was also present in the service provision scores (score range 0 (none) to 1.0 (very good)): for acute services, the median (range; IQR) national service provision score was 0.81 (0.50-0.89; 0.75-0.85) and for community services 0.60 (0.48-0.82; IQR 0.52-0.65).

Conclusions

This report clearly demonstrates mismatch between workforce, and services in both acute and community setting in the context of the population size. Future surveys will build on this preliminary information to audit service provision for older people at an individual hospital level.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)105–111
Number of pages7
JournalJournal of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh
Volume49
Issue number2
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 13 Jun 2019

Bibliographical note

We gratefully acknowledge the support of the British Geriatrics Society (BGS) in raising awareness of this work and the BGS Scotland Council for dissemination of the scoping survey. We also would like to thank Mr Tiberiu Pana, Mr Jesus Perdomo, Dr Maryam Barma and Dr Adrian Wood for their assistance with the project. We would also like to thank the SCoOP Steering Committee Members and Dr Claire Copeland (NHS Forth Valley) for their contribution. The SCoOP Steering Group includes: Dr Louise Beveridge (NHS Tayside), Professor Corri Black (University of Aberdeen), Ms Penny Bond (Healthcare Improvement Scotland), Dr Jennifer Burns (NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde), Dr Tony Byrne (NHS Forth Valley), Dr Andrew Coull (NHS Lothian), Dr Alison Donaldson (University of Aberdeen), Dr Alice Einarsson (NHS Grampian), Professor Graham Ellis (NHS Lanarkshire, Glasgow Caledonian University and Co-Chair), Ms Karen Goudie(Healthcare Improvement Scotland) , Dr Graeme Hoyle (NHS Grampian), Dr Allan MacDonald (NHS Highland), Dr Christine McAlpine (NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde), Dr Morven McElroy (NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde), Professor Phyo Kyaw Myint (University of Aberdeen, Co-Chair), Dr Terence J Quinn (University of Glasgow), Professor Sir Lewis Ritchie (University of Aberdeen), Dr Susan Shenkin (University of Edinburgh), Dr Ralph Thomas (NHS Fife) and Dr Andrew Watt (NHS Ayrshire and Arran).

Keywords

  • older people
  • care
  • audit
  • services

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