Test & evaluate services - Macmillan Palliative Care Collaborative

Testing new services

The Midhurst example

Several members of MacPaCC helped to evaluate a new "Active Palliative Care Service" in and around Midhurst in South East England. The aim of the service was to: maximise patient choice; reduce hospital inpatient stays; encourage close working between all sectors; provide a sustainable, affordable service. The population included cancer patients within Surrey, West Sussex and Hampshire primary care trusts - a 400 square mile area.
The Midhurst pilot project was evaluated by two research teams:
  •  the Universities of Sheffield & Huddersfield (MacPaCC members Bill Noble, Michelle Winslow & Nigel King) reviewed the service, user experience, roles & relationships and the primary care context.
  • Monitor Group conductd the economic evaluation, analysing the services accessed and their cost.



Some insights from the Midhurst pilot service (video clips)
Professor Nigel King (University of Huddersfield) highlights the flexible working by staff that helped make the service effective.
Bill Noble (University of Sheffield): What is the right kind of evidence for commissioners of palliative and supportive care? Bill's unit has adopted "multi-method research" for evaluating healthcare services.
Adrienne Betteley (Macmillan Cancer Support) and oral historian Michelle Winslow reflect on how the Midhurst work has informed Macmillan's priorities for influencing commissioners in the UK.

Evaluating educational initiatives

See Macmillan GP Adviser Charles Campion-Smith talking about how MacPaCC has helped evaluate educational programmes.

Saving a loved one's voice

Through the work of Michelle Winslow and the backing of MacPaCC, Macmillan Cancer Support was inspired to pursue oral history methods as a way of enabling bereaved families to receive a recording of their loved one's voice. Read more.
See members of MacPaCC talking about the oral history work:
  • Oral historian Michelle Winslow in dialogue with Adrienne Betteley (Macmillan's Palliative and End of Life Care Programme Manager).
  • Roberta Lovick, who sadly lost her daughter to cancer, describes how she came to understand the importance of research and to value the oral history project.