Mobile technology and delegated work in specialist community services: the EnComPaSS Integration project

Objectives The current UK healthcare workforce crisis is particularly severe in community services. A key limitation with traditional service-delivery models is the reliance on practitioners with levels of training and experience to enable them to operate independently. This paper describes a real-world evaluation of the implementation of digital health technology designed to provide remote, real-time support and task delegation in community palliative care services. It explores the ability of technology to support sustainable community workforce models and reports on key indicators of quality and efficiency. Methods The study was a mixed-methods, theory-driven evaluation, incorporating interviews, observations and analysis of routine data. The focus of this paper is the reporting of findings from pre–post implementation comparison and interrupted time series analysis. Data include community hospice service visits, hospital use by hospice patients and patient reported experiences. Results The digital health intervention allowed the service to include a more junior workforce (p