Title: Evaluation of the role and impact of innovative models of interfacing between the NHS and children's social care to improve outcomes for children at risk of abuse and neglect
Funder: Department of Health (England)

Abstract: Recent research has shown that NHS practitioners cannot routinely be relied upon to recognise and refer examples of harmful parenting to children’s social care. The aims of the research are therefore as follows: i) To review and update existing reviews of the evidence about barriers to improved cross-sectoral working, and to map innovative methods/models of interfacing between the NHS and children’s social care across England; ii) To identify the key characteristics and the impact of a number of innovative models that cover both adult and children’s services across the full range of provision; that represent varying levels of service complexity (e.g. basic information sharing strategies through to multidisciplinary models of team working); and that are designed to meet the needs of children who may be at risk of abuse or neglect across the complete age-spectrum (i.e. infancy through to adolescence) iii) To identify appropriate methods of translating these models across the NHS and other sectors, alongside the need for further research. The research will be undertaken in three stages over a period of 18 months. Stage One: A review of recent published studies will be undertaken to to identify key barriers to information sharing, joint decision-making and multidisciplinary team working. This literature has been summarized in a number of recent reviews of the evidence, and this stage of the research, which will be undertaken concomitantly with stage 2, and will involve synthesizing the published reviews, and updating them in terms of very recently published data. This will involve searching key electronic databases using a limited set of search-terms Mapping relevant innovation by collaborating with a range of organisations in and across the NHS and children’s social care (e.g. LSCBs, DCSs). A telephone survey will be conducted throughout England to collect key information about the types of models designed to address the issues identified at Stage One and their diffusion; Stage Two : In-depth case studies of six models that are most frequently used appear most likely to overcome the barriers identified at Stage One, involving mixed methods of data collection that enable the description and analysis of each model and the assessment of impact; Stage Three : Combining case study findings with recent review evidence on service change to identify the best methods of translation to other locations. Research team members have demonstrable expertise in child safeguarding and protection spanning both the NHS (Barlow; Sidebotham) and children’s social care (Ward; Luckock). They were members of the DfE safeguarding research group, and subgroups for the Munro Report. They have produced research which has made a significant contribution to the recognition of the current problems in cross-sectoral working, and the need to introduce new models of working to support children at risk of abuse, outside the formal child protection system. They have experience of conducting both mapping exercises (e.g. Barlow is currently mapping decision-making models across England), examining multidisciplinary models of working within the NHS, and conducting in-depth studies of exemplary models of working. They have extensive experience of making sense of the impact of organisational structures on face-to-face professional practice with children and parents, and translating research findings for policy, research and practice. The proposed research will have two significant benefits for policy makers, managers, practitioners and users of child welfare services: i) It will promote understanding of the nature, extent and impact of the development, diffusion and sustainability of innovative practice at the health and social care interface across the country; ii) It will also enable the use of findings from a cross sample of models of innovative practice to inform the implementation of promising new methods of working.


Research activity codes: 8.1 ORGANISATION AND DELIVERY OF SERVICES
Health categories: DISPUTED AETIOLOGY AND OTHER