Helpforce Companions Final Evaluation Report
Tags: Report
11th July 2022
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Helpforce Companions Final Evaluation
Imperial College Health Partners
April 2022
Extract from the report
Executive summary
This report is ICHP’s final evaluation of the Helpforce Companions programme, a volunteering initiative that began in October 2020 to support GP practices and their patients, particularly patients who are socially isolated or have needs beyond medical care. The aims of this evaluation are to report on outcomes of the programme to date and how these compare to resource use, reflect on changes in processes since the interim evaluation in October 2021, and make recommendations for GP practices considering similar programmes. Although the project was extended to March 2022 in October 2021, it continued to be impacted by Covid-19 and Omicron pressures that affected the volunteers’ ability to meet patients face to face.
Helpforce Companions was implemented differently in each of the PCNs where it was piloted. For the NeoHealth Practices (in Kensington & Chelsea), the intervention focused on longer-term befriending and companionship support and was initially age-restricted to those under 65. At the Bush Doctors practice (in Hammersmith & Fulham), Helpforce Companions volunteers primarily escorted patient to appointments (e.g. medical appointments) on a one-off basis.
Patient satisfaction with the programme was high, with most people rating the support they received as “Very good”. Social Prescribing Link Workers (SPLWs) and practice staff were also very positive about the programme, as demonstrated by the decision of the Golborne practice (NeoHealth) to continue to support the programme financially. However, given the small sample size and high variation between individuals, we could not see a significant difference in the main outcomes of interest (wellbeing and GP appointment attendance) before and after support. Over the whole period of the project, support was provided to 40 patients (21 completed referrals at Bush Doctors; 19 active / finished at NeoHealth PCN) – a maximum of 4 escorting activities per month were completed at Bush Doctors, and around 16 patient-volunteer pairings were active at NeoHealth practices by the end of the evaluation period.
For the full report please download the attached PDF