Brain Health Service pilot: evaluation - final report

Appendix 1: Research tools

Staff Interview topic guide

Background

What’s your role and how are you involved in the Brain Health Service?

Perceptions of the Service (all)

To date, what has been working well with the aspect of the service that you are involved in?

Thinking about the demands on the Service and your capacity, has the staff time allocation matched the demands of the service and have any changes been made in response to this?

What, if any additional systems have you put in place to monitor service user flow and interaction with the service?

The Service is delivered by both NHS Grampian Public Health and Brain Health Scotland – what opportunities has this approach created for the Service?

What challenges or barriers have you had to overcome?

What else would help you to fulfil your role in the Brain Health Service?

Healthpoint/ Resource Centre Staff

When people contact the service do they already have a basic awareness of brain health?

Based on your experiences so far, are these the people who you had expected to access the Service?

How well is the brain health questionnaire informing the support and advice that you provide to service users?

What’s your experience of developing the personalised action plans? How are service users responding to what you’re suggesting?

Nurse/Consultant

You have MDT discussions about the referrals, how well do you think the referral process is working [referrals into the clinic and onward referrals] and your understanding of what support the patients have received?

Based on your experiences so far, are these the people who you had expected to access the clinic

What else do you feel would help to ensure that the most relevant service users and patients are accessing the Brain Health Service?

How well do you feel that the clinic is integrated into the local health care system and particularly within the local dementia care pathway?

Outcomes (all)

To date, how much progress do you think the Service has made towards achieving its outcomes of…?

• Offering individuals concerned about their brain health a place to discuss their concerns in depth and with professional advice.
• Raising awareness of people’s ability to influence their brain health.
• Providing individuals with different levels of personalised action plans to guide them towards health behaviour change.
• Referring individuals to other specialist services.

Have there been any unexpected outcomes?

Future delivery (all)

At this stage, what are the key learning points for modifying the Service model and/or that would help a potential roll out of the Service in other areas?

Would you like to say anything else about the Brain Health Service?

Service user topic guide

Experience of accessing the Brain Health Service (all interviewees)

Tell me a little bit about yourself

What made you decide to access the Brain Health Service?

When you decided to access the service, what did they expect to find out/ what support did you expect to receive

As part of the discussion with the (Healthpoint Advisor/Centre Manager) you covered a range of issues about your brain health and aspects of daily life that can support brain health and what actions you can take. How did this discussion help you?

The Healthpoint Advisor/Centre Manager created a personalised action plan for you, how have you used it?

As part of the discussion, was other support offered or were you referred to any other service? Experience of the Clinic and any other referrals made – establish understanding and expectations of the referrals

Experience of accessing the clinic (for relevant interviewees)

After accessing the service, you were referred to the Brain Health Clinic and met the nurse for an assessment, what were your expectations ahead of the assessment?

How did you find that experience?

What actions have you taken since meeting the nurse? Have you been referred to any other services or support? (including follow up appointments with the Nurse)

After your nurse assessment, you were referred to the Consultant, what were your expectations ahead of the Consultant appointment?

How did you find that experience?

What actions have you taken since meeting the Consultant? Have you been referred to any other services or support?

Impact (all)

As a result of accessing the Brain Health Service:

• Has your understanding of brain health improved?
• Are you or are you planning to do things differently to support your brain health?
• What have been the benefits for you/your family?

Was there any support that you would like to see offered as part of the service?

Is there anything else you would like to mention about the service?

Is there any other information we can help you access?

Wider stakeholder survey questions

About You:

What organisation do you work for?

• Aberdeen City Council
• Aberdeenshire Council
• GP Practice (please specify)
• NHS Grampian (please specify which service)
• Third sector organisation (please specify)
• Other (please specify)

Awareness of the Service

Are you aware of the Brain Health Service operating in Aberdeen?

Please identify how you are aware of the Service (Select all that apply)

• I attended an awareness raising session
• through marketing materials and information about the service
• through colleagues or word of mouth
• I have/my team has made referrals to the Service
• I have received/my team has received referrals from the Service
• other (please specify)

How would you describe your understanding of the purpose of the service ….:

[a good understanding/ a limited understanding/ no understanding]

How would you describe your understanding of how the service aligns within existing practices within dementia care in NHS Grampian?

[a good understanding/ a limited understanding/ no understanding

Experience of the Service

From your interaction with the Brain Health Service, how would you rate the:

• ease of making referrals into the Service
• appropriateness of the referrals you/your team has received from the Service
• communication you’ve had with the Brain Health Service
• alignment of the Service in local health systems

[Very good/ Good/Adequate/ Poor/ N/A]

If you would like to explain your ratings, please use the space provided below:

Benefits

What, if any, opportunities has the Service created for, your organisation?

What, if any, challenges has the Service created for your organisation?

To what extent do you think the Service has increased brain health awareness across NHS Grampian?

[Not at all/ a little/ a lot/ don’t know]

What else could be done to increase awareness of brain health?

What do you think could be the medium to long term benefits of the Brain Health Service?

Final Comments

Is there anything else you would like to add about the Brain Health Service?