Catheter Care Behavioural Insights Bid

We were recently awarded £348,500 from the Health Foundation for their Behavioural Insights Research Programme.

We are working on a behavioural insights programme called: ‘From thermometers to thermostats: taking control of preventable harm from urinary catheters’.

We aim to use behavioural science and communications expertise to enhance the efficacy and scale of the catheter care bundle based on the 6 pillars.

The project has been designed to answer two research questions:

1. Can insights from behavioural science improve the implementation process of the catheter care bundle, by how much, and at what cost?
2. For two or three specific pillars of the catheter care bundle: what ‘nudges’ improve their efficacy or reach, by how much, and at what cost?

We will also identify lessons from implementing this catheter care bundle that could inform the Health Foundation’s work to support other scale and spread e.g. how a care bundle is introduced and sustained at new locations.

This work addresses two of the three priority areas stated in the NHS Five Year Forward View:

• Improvement in A&E performance, as part of the project focuses on developing a local strategy for an alternative to hospital management of catheters for emergency catheter problems.
• Strengthening access to high quality GP services by ensuring primary care services are included in local catheter care pathway and for example, staff have the appropriate training to manage catheterised patients effectively.

For any more information on any of these projects, please email hin.southlondon@nhs.net.