Work Programme | Health Care Research Wales

Consultation with Welsh Government Policy, NHS and Social Care leaders is key to developing and answering the right research questions at the Health and Care Research Wales Evidence Centre. This helps to ensure our research can be used to directly improve health and social care policy and practice.

Rapid evidence synthesis work programme

Evidence need	Research question	How the evidence will be used	Stakeholder Group
Value Based Health Care and Cost-effectiveness Analysis	How can Value-based Health Care and health economic methods better inform decision-making in Wales?	Inform value based health care cost-effectiveness analysis methods	Welsh Government Science Evidence Advice team
Causes of early childhood obesity	Which factors are associated with childhood obesity or overweight in children under five years old?	Inform and supporting the 2024 – 26 delivery plan for the Healthy Weight Strategy	Quality and Nursing Directorate (policy)
Smoking cessation interventions for patients with mental health conditions	What is the effectiveness of smoking cessation interventions or harm reduction approaches tailored for people with anxiety and/or depression living within the community?	Inform delivery plan for 2024-2026	Public Health Improvement & Inequalities (Policy)
Supporting women, girls and people who menstruate to participate in sport/exercise	Pending	Inform the Period Proud Action Plan – Action 10: options to improve and maintain exercise participation levels during menstruation	Gender policy team (policy)
Resources/innovations to support the social care workforce with evidence literacy and research understanding	Pending	Social care workforce need resources to improve evidence literacy. They that would help disseminate resources to the teams nationally.	Social Care Wales
Cost effectiveness of preventative interventions for birth trauma perineal injuries	Pending	Inform recommendations for the Women’s Health Plan which will be delivered by the Women’s Health Network	Quality and Nursing Directorate (policy)
Cost-effectiveness of life after stroke services	Pending	Inform service provision (under transformation by NHS Executive)	Stroke Association
Allied Health Profession teams working with neonatal services	1. What is the effectiveness of neonatal services with embedded allied health professionals compared to neonatal services without embedded allied health professionals? 2. What is the effectiveness of early interventions provided by allied health professionals in neonatal units?	Inform business cases to enhance Allied Health Professionals staffing within neonatal units to workforce recommendation levels	Allied Health Professionals (NHS)
Interventions for obese patients (BMI >30) awaiting secondary care services	Pending	Prevent deterioration in obesity/mental health for these patients, inform national service provision	Obesity weight Mx clinic CTUHB with national links
Interventions to mitigate adverse effects (educational, health and wellbeing) of childhood parental separation for vulnerable children	Pending	Inform development of multi-agency partnership working to meet the needs of vulnerable children from separating families and inform and influence Welsh Government policy in relation to this group of vulnerable children and young people	Cafcass Cymru (policy)
Make Every Contact Count (MECC) behaviour intervention	Pending	To define, support and guide the Make Every Contact Count (MECC) training offer, both locally within our Health Board, and also nationally across the MECC delivery teams.	Public Health CTUHB

Primary research work programme

Evidence need	Research question	How the evidence will be used	Stakeholder Group
Population Data Science
Cost impact of palliative care on urgent healthcare services in Wales	Pending	Palliative care models and structures of funding	Palliative and End of Life Care (NHS)
Cost impact of patients with persistent pain on health care services in Wales	Pending	Inform national strategy and service provision	Chronic Pain Leads (NHS)
Evaluation of the Safe@Home initiative	Pending	Evaluate the Safe@Home initiative	Cardiff and Vale University Health Board
In house
Public perceptions and needs of NHS dentistry in Wales	What do the Welsh public understand about NHS dental services, what do they think it could look like, and what are their priorities? A qualitative study	Inform Dental Reform Strategies	Dental (Policy)
Demedicalisation of gluten free products	Pending	Inform recommendations in review of Dispensing Volumes in Community Pharmacy Strategy	Pharmaceutical (Policy)
Evaluation of Women’s Health Services in Wales	Pending	Inform ongoing policy and service provision in this area	Quality and Nursing Directorate (policy)

This is the proposed Health and Care Research Wales Evidence Centre Work Programme January – September 2024. This may be amended should policy / practice evidence needs change (existing projects may be adapted or removed, and high priority questions may be added).