Benefits of a collaborative approach to service evaluation in urgent care

Collaboration and service evaluation are essential enablers for improving models of health and social care. Significant benefits can be achieved when they are combined to form a collaborative service evaluation, particularly when such collaboration involves different clinical professions. This article uses the NHS 111 Wales service to explore a simple example of collaborative service evaluation and to discuss the benefits and challenges identified. While the tabletop exercises described were expected to focus solely on compliance data and the reasons for non-compliance, broader learning was identified for all parties involved. It became clear that there was a lack of shared understanding of each service, and that there were opportunities for education and opportunities to develop new national pathways. It is hoped that readers may be able to compare, learn and possibly replicate the collaborative approach used in their practice settings to achieve similar outcomes.