Health and Care Experience Profiles: a qualitative research methodology for the integration index

Healthwatch England in partnership with NHS England have published a qualitative research methodology as part of the Local Integration Index.

This methodology, titled ‘Health and Care Experience Profiles’ can be used to ensure people’s experiences of integration are used by local systems to track how services are working together locally. The methodology involved Healthwatch England looking at all the national level user experience data held on each of the groups and at the policies which set out what sort of care these people should be getting.

Local Healthwatch piloted this methodology in Cambridgeshire, Cheshire East, Cheshire West, Ealing, Hounslow, Manchester, Peterborough, and West Sussex. The pilots focussed on five groups with particular health and care experience profiles, who had experiences of care across several joined-up services. These profiles were:

• Children and young people with mental health support needs who are becoming adults 
• People with diabetes of South Asian origin 
• People with learning disabilities who have recently been in hospital 
• Black men with a number of health needs including a recent experience of cancer 
• Women with a number of health needs including a recent experience of a heart condition

Local Healthwatch undertook research into local data about policies and spoke to a small number of people from these groups and asked them to talk about their experiences of care. People were also asked about their ideas for improvement, which the NHS and social care services are expected to use to make changes wherever possible

The underlying principles of this methodology can now be used by the NHS and its partners to find out how any group of people might be experiencing care across different services. The Local Healthwatch network across the country is perfectly placed to act as a local delivery partner and can be commissioned to help carry out this work.