research and evaluation

Better Together: Scotland's Patient Experience Programme: Patient Priorities for Inpatient Care Report No. 5/2009

This research was commissioned by the Scottish Government as part of Better Together Scotland’s Patient Experience Programme. The objectives of this work were to establish a hierarchy of issues important to Scottish patients receiving hospital inpatient care and to test for differences in priorities among demographic groups. The results could then be used to inform the development of tools to measure inpatient experiences across Scotland.

National Forum on Drug Related Deaths in Scotland: Annual Report 2008-09

This is the second report from the National Forum on Drug-related Deaths. The drug death statistics published each year in the General Register of Scotland (GROS) report are fundamental to the work of the National Forum. This year the GROS report was more detailed than ever before. The report confirmed a disappointing but not unexpected trend.

Time to Talk Parents as Partners

This report presents the findings of the day’s discussions, highlighting the main themes and actions proposed by participants. At several points in the day participants were asked to think of new or different ways that services could be delivered. These ideas are deliberately represented as ‘blue sky’ thinking and are not intended to indicate exact or concrete changes to services, but to provide stimulus for thought on new directions for service delivery.

Britain's poorest children : severe and persistent poverty and social exclusion

The current Labour government has made a commitment to abolish child poverty in Britain by 2020. In its efforts to do so, a number of targets have been established and indicators of progress are being reviewed annually. However, tackling severe child poverty does not feature in these targets or indicators. In fact, although there is now a wealth of information about child poverty in Britain, very little is known about either the extent of severe child poverty or the children who are affected.

Evidence based research (Radio 4 series: Thinking Allowed)

This episode of Radio 4's Thinking Allowed series includes a segment on evidence based research. The government has been strongly committed to evidence-based policy and practice. It wants to use evidence of what works to inform and drive ambitious and innovative social programmes. Issues surrounding how evidence-based research is used and whether policy is based on evidence or informed by it.

Councils adapt ICS to unlock its potential

The authors, from Dorset Council, explain how they are trying to get the best out of the Integrated Children's System despite its limitations. The ICS was intended to enable a single consistent approach to case-based information gathering, case planning, case aggregation and case reviews. As such, the easily generated and clear reports would help social workers collect, organise, analyse and retrieve information.

Research into Private Fostering

This research into private fostering was commissioned by the DCSF and carried out by a team from the National Children’s Bureau (NCB) and the British Association for Adoption and Fostering (BAAF). The purpose of the research was to inform the DCSF Advisory Group on Private Fostering in making its recommendations to Ministers on increasing notifications of private fostering arrangements.