Health, Social Care and Sports Committee

National Assembly for Wales

Cardiff

2^nd Feb 2017

Dear Colleague,

Our group do not normally respond to consultations, however we felt this might be an opportunity to highlight the points presented below and an opportunity to discuss.

1. The emerging multi-disciplinary team (how health and care professionals fit into the new cluster model and how their contribution can be measured).

2. Greater detail on the aspects being evaluated, the support being supplied centrally and the criteria in place to determine the success or otherwise of clusters, including how input from local communities is being incorporated into the development and testing being undertaken.

Response from Pharmacy Research Wales

Pharmacy welcomes being part of the emerging multi-disciplinary cluster teams and supports the need to rigorously evaluate how each health and care profession fits into these new models and how their contribution can be measured.

We note that a specific set of research skills, knowledge and behaviours are required to complete these evaluative activities, particularly in such a rapidly changing and complex environment. There are opportunities for beneficial, collaborative approaches to such activities.

Centralised consideration to methodology, outcome measures, data collection and support could be adopted across the multi-disciplinary teams. This would facilitate the development of a program which is cognisant of work already underway, avoiding duplication of effort and co-ordinating valuable resources.

This group believes there is an urgent need for Welsh Government to provide a directive on the necessity for robust research to evaluate any transformational changes within the NHS and a specific commissioned funding stream to support and ensure appropriate aims, quality and timeliness of research related to this enquiry.

Pharmacy Research Wales welcomes the opportunity to discuss and engage with how this might be taken forward.