Evaluating community-based integrated health and social care services: The Simtegr8 approach

This paper introduces a new facilitated simulation approach, called SIMTEGR8, developed to evaluate the effectiveness of integrated community-based health and social care services. This involves developing and using simulation models, which serve as a catalyst for generating discussion about the effectiveness of the patient pathway and for identifying potential improvements to the service. The simulation analyst works jointly with different stakeholder groups: service providers, commissioners, and service users. Service users, a stakeholder group that can contribute to the knowledge generated in facilitated modelling sessions, have not been included in facilitated simulation studies reported so far in the literature. For illustration purposes, the Lightbulb project, a housing support service helping elderly and frail people in Leicestershire in the UK stay safe at home, is presented in this paper. The outcomes of the study and the challenges faced with involving patients in simulation projects are discussed.