NEQOS can support specific, independent investigations required as a result of an alert highlighted by NEQOS reports, by an external organisation (such as Dr. Foster), or by a commissioning or regulatory organisation (CQC or Monitor).
Requests are responded to in the first instance by a NEQOS Consultant Epidemiologist, who can help the subscriber to clarify the problem and scope the best approach to investigate further. As well as producing reports, NEQOS can attend meetings and Board presentations as required by the subscriber.
For our regular organisation subscribers, specific investigations delivered as part of the core element of their Service Level Agreement (SLA) are time-limited to a maximum of four days. If further support is required, this could either be funded against the ‘bespoke’ resource within their SLA or as an extension of this. We are able to undertake investigations for other organisations under an individual project agreement.
The ‘Deep Dive’ Mortality Project is an example of a bespoke specific investigation that can be undertaken for a subscriber. Read more
Other examples of specific investigations include an exploration of patient experience within a Trust (see example). NEQOS analysed existing patient experience surveys (NHS Inpatient Survey and the NHS Family and Friends Test) to identify areas within the Trust which had:
- Particularly good patient experiences from which others could learn across the organisation
- Generally acceptable experiences, but where supportive work across the organisation could yield significant improvements for many patients
- Experiences below expectations, where remedial work may be required