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Research at Oxford has played a central role within the recent restructuring of the nursing workforce to improve healthcare quality in a context of growing service demands and tightening resource constraints. Much of this restructuring has been heavily dependent on the use of the Healthcare Assistant (HCA) role, provoking much controversy. Presented as a flexible, low cost resource, these HCA roles are also unregulated and therefore seen as a potential source of patient risk. Oxford researchers have fed into this debate across a number of projects, strengthening the evidence base on the nature and consequences of the HCA role. Examining the role from the perspective of different stakeholders, these projects have impacted on national, regional and local policy and practice centred on the management and use of HCAs. In so doing, the research has contributed to the development of a more productive and safer nursing workforce.
University of Reading research produced a tool to measure the key drivers of stakeholder behaviour. This has been applied in a wide range of situations — notably when organisations have set out to improve relationships with stakeholders in complex and potentially high risk situations.
Four examples are given here.
The capability development model for Government Departments and civil service communicators, designed by Anne Gregory for the UK Cabinet Office, was adopted across Whitehall. This work includes continuing input into the development of communication capability in Government. It has also underpinned best-practice policy development in the Department of Health, and is currently being applied across the NHS as well as being used in local government and in the private sector. Overseas governments, NGOs and private organisations as well as the Global Alliance (the international confederation of PR and communication management associations) have all adopted Gregory's approaches and recommendations on capability development.
Research, undertaken at the University of Sheffield since 2001, into the discolouration of drinking water occurring within distribution systems has had economic, policy and professional practice impacts on the water supply sector since 2008. This has resulted in improved levels of service, has safeguarded water quality delivered to the public and has delivered substantial economic savings. For example, in one of the few cases where monetary value is available, Wessex Water made 63% savings on two trunk main schemes with an initial estimated cost in excess of £1M. The 4 and 7 km lengths of these trunk mains represent less than 1% of the trunk mains being impacted by our research. Our research has resulted in a step change in the concept and approach to the management of discolouration in water distribution systems.
In the wake of a series of terrorist attacks (e.g. 9/11, the London bombings of 2005), there has been an increased awareness of the importance of governmental, organisational and civil society's preparedness for responding to major catastrophic events. Dr Sullivan-Taylor's research examines risk and resilience management of extreme events by taking a practice-based point of view that seeks to integrate private and public sector management. As a result of the research, policy-makers have a more robust evidence base to draw on and individual organisations are better placed to ensure their own resilience through improved business planning.