Are you involved in developing or implementing a digital health and care project? Technology has the potential to revolutionise health and care but too many projects fail.
As a tech start-up ourselves one thing we are very aware of is that unlocking success in digital work is about so much more than technology: relationships are crucial for successful digital health and care projects yet their importance is often underplayed.
This means agreeing what success looks like across all stakeholders and iteratively testing and refining your theory of how and if change happens is vital.
Gain clarity and focus with our support
At Matter of Focus we’ve had the pleasure of working with pioneering programmes developing new approaches to transforming health and social care system to be more digitally enabled.
We know from this work that traditional approaches to evaluation can be hard to operationalise in the context of these complex projects and can miss some of the key factors that create the conditions for impact.
With insights from our work in this area, we can support your team to stay on track and build projects that are more likely to thrive and deliver real impact.
We bring tried and tested methods to help:
-
Build a shared vision of success.
-
Empower your team to contribute meaningfully to evaluation, learning and improvement.
Some of the support we offer:
Context mapping workshops
Together we create a shared understanding of the wider factors that influence change.
‘Success story’ sessions
People share examples of what good looks like from similar or previous work – this can help to build up an understanding of the change mechanisms that look promising for the work.
Outcome mapping workshops
Expertly facilitated workshops to build theories of change, which will become a framework for the evaluation of your work using our award winning software OutNav.
Data review and planning
We work with you to think about how change will be monitored, and what combination of reflection, feedback and data is needed to understand change in order to learn, improve and keep on track.
Software to structure your evaluation
Evaluation frameworks are held in our unique, cloud-based software. Explore OutNav→
Independent review and evaluation
We can carry out independent review and evaluation of digital health and care evidence and programmes.
Our expertise in this area
Principal Evaluation Consultant, Dr Simon Bradstreet has a range of experience in the development, research and evaluation in health and social care. This includes managing an international trial of a mobile health intervention for the prevention of relapse in psychosis – the first mental health app in the UK to be registered as a medical device.
Simon developed and led a Master’s at the University of Glasgow in Digital Health Interventions and continues to contribute to digital health teaching at the University of Edinburgh. With Matter of Focus, he has worked with several clients working in this area, including the Digital Health & Care Innovation Centre, the Innovative Healthcare Delivery Programme (IHDP) and NHS 24.
Company founder and Director Dr Ailsa Cook has internationally recognised expertise in data and information, evaluation methods, action research, outcomes and evidence to action along with two decades of experience of working with organisations delivering complex change. She has led pioneering improvement programmes focused on bringing organisations together to develop and improve practice in focusing on outcomes at programme, personal and population levels.
With Matter of Focus, Ailsa has worked with a number of clients using digital approaches to transforming health and care systems including the evaluation of the Transforming Local Systems TEC Pathfinder.
Some of our work with clients leading digital transformation
Digital Health and Care Innovation Centre (DHI)
We supported DHI to take an embedded, outcome focused approach to evaluate three aspects of their work:
- Moray Rural Centre of Excellence for Digital Health and Care
- Digital Mental Health Innovation Cluster
- Decision Support Programme
Health Technology Wales
We worked with Health Technology Wales to map and track their strategic, national approach to the identification, appraisal and adoption of new health technologies into health and care settings across NHS Wales. In 2021, they won the David Hailey Award for Best Impact Story for its approach to evaluating the impact of research into a treatment for multiple sclerosis.
Innovative Healthcare Delivery Programme (IHDP)
IHDP seeks to fundamentally change the way data and analytics are used to drive improvement in health outcomes, by fostering new relationships between the NHS, industry, academia, and the third sector. They are using OutNav to set out and track progress of their key programmes.
NHS 24
We are supporting the evaluation of Mind to Mind, a micro-website collaboration between NHS 24 and Scottish Government and part of the national Digital Mental Health Programme which captures a lot of varied lived experience videos on many different factors that could be adversely affecting someone’s mental health, from sleep issues through to bereavement.
Transforming Local Systems Pathfinder Programme
The four-year Transforming Local Systems Pathfinder Programme, funded by Scottish Government’s Technology Enabled Care (TEC) Programme, Digital Health and Care Directorate, aimed to help local partnerships to contribute to the transformation of local health and social care systems using digital technologies, shifting local delivery towards prevention and self-management. The Programme was delivered with four local pathfinders: NHS Highland, Midlothian HSCP, East Ayrshire HSCP, Aberdeen HSCP.
As a learning partner, we provided the Pathfinders and National team with developmental evaluation support over three years: To develop theories of change, to use OutNav to capture their learning and assess their progress with the work, and to carry out a final evaluation. This resulted in a simple but robust framework to evaluate the effectiveness, sustainability and impact of digital health interventions.
