for carer questionnaire - acute hospital sites May 2016 1
Timeline for data collection The data collection period will be staggered as shown below. Overall guidance was sent out in March and any further detailed guidance required for individual tools two to four weeks in advance of the start of data collection. This is the guidance for the carer questionnaire. Organisational checklist Casenote audit Carer questionnaire Staff questionnaire Online staff questionnaire (see below) March April 18 April Data Collection opens May June 17 June deadline 1 June Data collection opens 1 June Data collection opens 1 June Paper distribution on 3 wards July 1 July Data collection opens August 31 August distribution end date 31 August distribution end date September 31 September deadline October 28 October deadline ii
Contacting the Project Team For further information please contact the project team: Chloë Hood, Programme Manager chloe.hood@rcpsych.ac.uk 020 3701 2682 Chloe Snowdon, Deputy PM chloe.snowdon@rcpsych.ac.uk 020 3701 2697 Sarah Keane, Project Worker sarah.keane@rcpsych.ac.uk 020 3701 2688 Rahena Khatun, Project Administrator rahena.khatun@rcpsych.ac.uk 020 7977 2681 For general queries, email: nad@rcpsych.ac.uk Website: www.nationalauditofdementia.org.uk Before you begin: IDENTIFY the key people you are going to work with. This is a complex audit which should not be carried out by a single lead. The guidance for each tool gives some suggestions of colleagues who could help you to collect and co-ordinate the return of the different types of data required. Let us know if we can help. We are available to answer queries within office hours, or you can email us and we will respond as soon as we can. We hope that the changes made to the audit will allow a better insight into the improvements that hospitals have carried out and further improvements for the future. We look forward to working with you. iii
for the Carer Questionnaire The Carer Questionnaire is a new tool developed for the third round of NAD in conjunction with the Patient Experience Research Centre at Imperial College London. It is designed to assess carers perceptions of care received by the person they care for, in addition to their satisfaction with their own involvement during the patient s admission. Each hospital site is expected to organise the distribution of carer questionnaires to carers visiting patients in hospital during June - August 2016. The questionnaires will be supplied in two packs of 100 together with prepaid envelopes so that they can be returned directly to the NAD project team. Input will be required from: Your local audit lead; Carer experience lead/dementia lead; Patient experience and PALS/quality improvement staff; Ward Managers on adult wards admitting patients with dementia. Estimated time to complete: The local audit lead should initially organise a meeting with the carer experience/ dementia lead and staff member(s) from the patient experience quality improvement team/pals to: 1. Discuss and organise the distribution of questionnaires to carers and publicising the questionnaire within the hospital; 2. Allocate responsibility to team members to distribute the questionnaires to carers visiting the wards during the data collection period (see below for details). This will take up to an hour. A further 1-2 hours will need to be allocated for any follow up meetings required, and ward team members will need to allocate an hour each week (probably spread over more than one day) for distribution. Distributing your carer questionnaires Carers of patients with known or suspected dementia should be offered the opportunity to complete a questionnaire if they come to visit between 1 June and 31 August 2016. The questionnaire can be given to any family members or key workers, and should be given in the run up to discharge. The questionnaire can be distributed on adult inpatient wards in the hospital from which people with dementia are discharged. You should therefore exclude ICU, HDU etc and also any mental health and maternity wards. We recommend that Ward Managers each nominate a Questionnaire Lead to distribute the questionnaire and record the number given out. Please see APPENDIX A for the briefing for Questionnaire Leads. 1
The questionnaire can also be given at Dementia Cafes or advice sessions held on site during the period, and distributed by patient experience leads, advice workers or PALS. Return and Response rate The pilot showed that returns of the carer questionnaire were greatly increased if carers were given the questionnaire directly by a member of staff who explained why it was important and that it was designed to collate their views of the care received. A return of at least 50 should be aimed for. We have emailed you a tally sheet and a spreadsheet to keep track of the number distributed in your hospital. We will update you weekly on the number we receive. We can only provide you with a response rate if you can tell us how many have been given out. This is especially important if you are a smaller hospital or if local reasons (such as demographics) will make it more difficult to achieve the target return. Distribution period The questionnaire can be distributed throughout the three month period. You may choose to concentrate on a shorter period (e.g. 4-6 weeks) within this. However, the questionnaire should be available if requested throughout. You will be sent 200 questionnaires. If you require more, please let us know by 4 July at the latest. You may give out the questionnaire until the end of August. We have allowed time for questionnaires to reach us by post. PLEASE NOTE The carer questionnaire is intended to be completed anonymously. Each will have attached a pre-paid envelope to be sent back directly to the NAD project team. Any questionnaires completed on the ward should only be returned to staff to forward to the NAD team if sealed within an envelope. Staff should not assist with completion of questionnaires, but patient/public volunteers or representatives may offer help. Encouraging questionnaire return Carers completing the questionnaire will be able to enter a prize draw using a postcard attached to the questionnaire. The postcard is also prepaid and returned to a separate address so that personal details cannot be linked to completed questionnaires. An online version of the questionnaire is available for any carers who prefer this method. This also gives the opportunity to enter the prize draw once completed, via a redirect to a separate form (details cannot be linked to responses). We have sent you posters to publicise the questionnaire in your hospital and it has been publicised by Alzheimer s Society and the Dementia Action Alliance. 2
APPENDIX A Briefing for Questionnaire Leads What is the carer questionnaire? The carer questionnaire is an important part of the audit. It collects views from carers of people with dementia about the quality of care and communication with the carer. The role of the questionnaire lead is to identify carers of people with dementia visiting their ward or wards and give them the questionnaire with a brief explanation about what you are asking them to do. This greatly increases the response rate. If the questionnaire is left by beds and not handed in person to the carer with an explanation it is very unlikely to be completed. The questionnaire has an information sheet, pre-paid envelope and postcard for entry to a prize draw already attached. It is anonymous and can be posted straight back to the NAD project team so that staff in the hospital cannot see the carer s responses. Who should be given the questionnaire? Family members and key workers visiting a person with known or suspected dementia during June, July and August should be offered a questionnaire to complete. The questionnaire does not use the term dementia so can be used if the person with dementia in hospital is unaware of or does not agree with their diagnosis. However, the questionnaire should not be given if memory problems have just become apparent and the family member may not be aware of them (i.e. there has been no discussion). When should the questionnaire be given? It is best to offer the questionnaire to the carer during the run up to discharge, or when the person they are visiting is medically fit. What explanation should I give? You might want to include the following: Introduce yourself. The hospital is taking part in a national survey of the care of people with confusion or memory problems in hospital. Feedback from carers/family members will produce a score for each hospital on the quality of care. The questionnaire has 11 questions and takes approximately five minutes to complete. It is anonymous A prepaid envelope is provided. This means it can be taken away or completed on the spot and sealed for posting. Staff cannot see your responses. There is a prize draw for one of five 50 vouchers for a high street store of your choice if you complete the questionnaire (complete freepost postcard attached). Send postcard separately to questionnaire. Any questions, contact the NAD project team. 3
National Audit of Dementia Royal College of Psychiatrists 21 Prescot Street London E1 8BB www.nationalauditofdementia.org.uk i