Service Evaluation of the Encompass Community Hub Operating Centres (CHOCS), Report: June 2018

This report details the findings of a service evaluation of the Vanguard Encompass MCP (MultiSpecialty Community Provider) in East Kent. Encompass was awarded Vanguard status in 2015, through the first wave of Vanguards prompted by NHS England’s ‘Five Year Forward View’ strategy. The evaluation was conducted from March 2017 to April 2018 by the Centre for Health Service Studies in partnership with Encompass, who provided and analysed the metric data. The operational model developed and implemented by Encompass is Community Hub Operating Centres (CHOCs). CHOCs are holistic community based models of integrated service delivery aiming to improve user experience of co-ordinated care and self-management at home; contribute to a reduction in A&E demand and onward

admission in the short term; and reduce pressure on acute services and long term care home placements in the longer term. Five CHOCs were initiated after an initial pilot period in 2016, which consist of clusters of GP practices serving a total practice population of 180,784 patients. The evaluation focused on the CHOCs, and the evaluation questions were informed by the NHSE local evaluation document (NHS 2015):

? What impact are the CHOCs having on user outcomes and experience?

? What are the components of the care model delivery (or ‘active/successful ingredients’) that

are really making a difference?

? What are the influencing contextual factors and how have they affected implementation and

outcomes?

? What changes to the use of resources and activity in the local health system have taken place

and to what costs?

? What could be improved, replicated and sustained?