Our current research - University of Birmingham

Barcode scanning in healthcare

Barcode technology is widely used in healthcare to support patient identification, medication administration, blood transfusions and other clinical processes. By helping staff confirm that the right patient receives the right treatment at the right time, barcode systems have the potential to improve patient safety, reduce errors and support higher quality care.

This WM-ESG project, commissioned by NHS England and the Department for Health and Social Care, developed an Evidence and Gap Map to bring together and visually organise research on the use of barcode technologies such as Scan4Safety in healthcare settings. An Evidence and Gap Map does not evaluate whether an intervention works; instead, it shows where evidence already exists and where important gaps in knowledge remain. The map covers a wide range of applications, including medication safety, blood transfusion safety, patient identification and wider organisational outcomes.

The research is helping our commissioners understand where evidence is strongest, where further research is needed, and how barcode technologies such as Scan4Safety may contribute to safer and more effective healthcare. By identifying both well-researched areas and evidence gaps, the project provides a valuable resource for researchers, policymakers and healthcare organisations seeking to improve patient safety and quality of care with digital technologies. See our Evidence and Gap Map. We are currently undertaking a second phase of the project, which includes expanding and updating the Evidence and Gap Map.

Green health prescribing

Green health prescribing, also known as green social prescribing, describes when healthcare professionals such as GPs, nurses and other practitioners connect people with nature-based activities to support their health and wellbeing. These activities can include walking groups, gardening, conservation projects and other outdoor programmes. Green health prescribing is receiving increasing attention as a way of supporting physical and mental health, particularly for older adults and people at risk of social isolation.

Our research focused on whether these activities improve health and wellbeing for older adults, particularly those living in deprived areas where barriers to accessing green spaces and community activities may be greater. We carried out two reviews: a qualitative review exploring what helps or prevents older adults from accessing nature-based activities through primary care, and a quantitative review examining whether these activities improve health and wellbeing outcomes.

The reviews found promising evidence that nature-based activities may improve outcomes such as quality of life, mental wellbeing, physical functioning and social connectedness. However, the research also identified important barriers to participation, including awareness, accessibility, availability of local services and wider social and environmental factors. The findings highlight both the potential benefits of green health prescribing and the need for further high-quality research to strengthen the evidence base and support future implementation.

We have published 2 papers on our findings:

Integrated care for people with multiple long-term conditions

Many people live with more than one long-term health condition, such as diabetes, heart disease, arthritis, dementia or mental health conditions. Managing several conditions at the same time can be challenging and often requires support from a range of health and care services. When care is not well coordinated, people can experience fragmented services, repeated appointments and poorer health outcomes. Around one in four adults in England lives with multiple long-term conditions (multimorbidity), making this an increasingly important challenge for the NHS and social care services.

This WM-ESG review explores how health and care services can work together more effectively for people living with multiple long-term conditions. International in scope, the review examines how integrated care services are organised and delivered in different settings. We are examining how services are organised, coordinated and delivered, including areas such as partnerships between organisations, commissioning arrangements, communication, referral pathways and multidisciplinary working. The review aims to identify the organisational approaches that show the greatest promise for improving coordination of care and supporting better outcomes for people with multimorbidity.

By bringing together evidence from across existing studies, the review will improve understanding of the organisational structures and processes that best support integrated care delivery. We hope the findings will support future NHS service development and help ensure that people with complex health needs receive more joined-up, person-centred care. See here for our published protocol.

Social workers and Adult Social Care

We have developed a realist review to explore whether regular contact with a social worker improves wellbeing, quality of life and outcomes for people receiving adult social care. The study also explores how and why these interactions may lead to better outcomes.

Adult social workers play an important role in assessing needs, coordinating support, safeguarding individuals, helping people navigate care systems and developing person-centred plans. However, despite the central role they play within adult social care, there is limited evidence about how contact with social workers improves people's lives, for whom it works best, and under what circumstances positive outcomes are achieved.

Using a realist review approach, the study goes beyond asking whether social worker contact is effective. Instead, it seeks to understand how, why, for whom and in what contexts contact with social workers leads to better outcomes. The review examines factors such as communication, trust, relationship-building, collaborative working, access to resources and different models of social work practice. It considers both positive and negative experiences of contact, recognising that the nature, frequency and quality of interactions can vary considerably between individuals and services.

The review focuses on adults who use or seek social care services, including older people, people living with disabilities, those with complex health and social care needs, and other groups who may experience inequalities in access to support. Through analysis of research evidence and engagement with social care experts, social workers and people with lived experience, the project is developing theories that explain how relationships between social workers and service users influence outcomes such as feeling heard, reduced stress, satisfaction with services, greater independence, improved wellbeing and quality of life.

We hope the findings will help inform social work policy and practice across the UK by providing evidence about the role of social worker contact in adult social care. The review may also help identify ways that relationship-based and strengths-based approaches can better support people who draw on care and support services. See our published protocol.