SDO News
31 August 2010
Scheme to prevent unplanned hospital admissions examined
New research is evaluating a scheme aimed at preventing unplanned hospital admissions by patients. The study funded by the NIHR SDO programme will see whether it can improve patient care and save the NHS money.
27 July 2010
HSRN and SDO Network Annual Conference, 2-3 June 2010
The joint HSRN and SDO Network annual conference ‘Delivery Better Health Services’ took place on the 2 and 3 June 2010. This premier conference for research into healthcare delivery was hugely successful with over 350 delegates attending the event held in Manchester. The conference provided an opportunity to voice the latest research on health services and brought together all those engaged in high quality healthcare through research.13 July 2010
Study findings translated into Catalan and Spanish
We are pleased to announce that research findings of SDO project Organisational factors influencing technology adoption in the NHS: a systematic literature review has been translated into both Catalan and Spanish by the Catalan Agency for Health Technology Assessment and Research (CAHTA).
22 June 2010
New research evaluating the role of healthcare assistants in hospitals publishes
Healthcare assistants (HCAs) are a key group of workers within the NHS which is often under-utilised finds a new report published by the NIHR SDO programme.A team of researchers, led by Dr Ian Kessler of the University of Oxford, have assessed the use and consequences of support worker roles in hospitals from the perspective of different stakeholders. They looked at whether these roles vary between and within hospitals, between different departments, and by different supporting roles.
9 June 2010
The SDO programme to exhibit at the NHS Confederation Conference
The SDO programme will be exhibiting at the NHS Confederation Conference from the 23 – 25 June 2010. This annual event will take place at the ACC Liverpool on the outstanding Mersey River Waterfront sited next to the famous grade one listed Albert Dock. Please visit us at stand H12 to learn more about the SDO programme, its research and how you can get involved.For further information visit: www.nhsconfed2010.org
14 April 2010
Delivering better health services: 2-3 June 2010, Manchester Central
The premier conference for research into healthcare delivery, the joint HSRN and SDO Network annual conference is now open for bookings. As the only forum for all the different disciplines and professions of health services research it is an event not to be missed. Click here to view the programme or visit the NHS Confederation to book a place.
1 April 2010
Supporting end of life care research
In response to the Department of Health’s End of life Care Strategy, the National Institute for Health Research Service Delivery and Organisation (NIHR SDO) programme has funded four new research projects on generalist services for people at the end of life, with a combined value of £1.4 million. This is over and above the £1.2 million already invested by the Department of Health in palliative care research.
19 March 2010
NIHR SDO research informs "Leadership for Healthcare" title
Research funded by the NIHR SDO programme has recently informed a new title called "Leadership for Healthcare". The book, which is due to publish in March this year, will provide a useful means to draw-down key lessons from the wider leadership literature into the healthcare setting. The project, led by Professor Jean Hartley of the University of Warwick, reviewed a series of reports produced by the Research into Leadership programme in order to reduce their contents into a clear, accessible book.
19 March 2010
The NIHR Service Delivery and Organisation programme are seeking referees
Referees provide guidance to the Commissioning Board on the merits of full research proposals, and research teams about their work, ensuring that the quality of the resulting publication is scientifically robust. The SDO programme is looking to recruit NHS managers to share their expertise by acting as referees. If you can help to shape NIHR SDO programme research by commenting on short briefing papers, reviewing full proposals or draft reports of research findings please click here.
27 January 2010
New research published by the SDO programme
The start of 2010 has seen the publication of reports from five projects funded by the National Institute for Health Research Service Delivery and Organisation (NIHR SDO) programme.
The REFER Project - Realistic Effective Facilitation of Elective Referral: an assessment of the current use of referral tools for referral from primary to secondary care for elective surgical assessment & design of new tools (08/1310/072)
The project team led by Dr Jan van der Meulen carried out research to improve the process of referral from primary to secondary care for patients with non-urgent conditions who may benefit from surgical treatment.
27 January 2010
Patient safety in healthcare organisations call for proposals is now open
A call for proposals was launched within the priority areas workstream of the NIHR SDO programme today. This call is aimed at commissioning research on aspects of patient safety particularly relating to organisational environments, structures, systems and cultures, consistent with the mission and focus of the SDO
programme.The programme is interested in proposals for research into the following topic areas:
- translating knowledge about patient safety into service delivery
- patient/user involvement in safety improvement
- financial costs and benefits and trade-offs in patient safety
- boundaries between care processes, services and organisations
22 January 2010
New funding opportunities with the SDO programme
The SDO Studies Panel gives the academic community the opportunity to respond to an open call for proposals and to identify research questions aimed at addressing those gaps in knowledge. Call 10/1008 was launched yesterday and is the second researcher-led call from the programme under this panel. This programme is seeking to fund projects up to 24 months duration and up to £300,000 in cost for follow-on empirical studies, evidence synthesis, and scoping reviews for future research needs. Applicants are asked to submit outline proposals for the above call by 1pm on Thursday 18 March 2010.
11 January 2010
Part time secondment opportunities for Senior Scientific Advisors at NETSCC, SDO x 2
The post of Senior Scientific Advisor is an opportunity to help develop the programme by providing content expertise at a senior level to help identify, develop and prioritise important research questions, and communicate outputs of funded projects to decision makers and other stakeholders.
13 November 2009
SDO funded research regarding the evaluation of modernisation of adult critical care services publishes in the BMJ
New SDO funded research evaluating the impact and cost effectiveness of a programme to transform adult critical care in England has been published in the BMJ.In 2000 the Department of Health advocated the "modernisation" of adult critical care and, as a parallel initiative, funded a 35% increase in the number of beds. Responsibility for leading the transformation of services lay with the newly created NHS Modernisation Agency and focused on integrating critical care with other acute services in the hospital, thus creating "comprehensive critical care."
4 November 2009
New Funding Opportunities with the SDO programme
Two calls for proposals were launched by the NIHR SDO programme last week. The first call is for scoping studies in Emergency Planning in Health Care (09/1005). While a great deal of inter-agency work has been undertaken in preparing emergency plans across the public sector, there has been little research into the effectiveness of these arrangements and their implications for maintaining and sustaining health services during times of emergency. This call is aimed at filling acknowledged gaps in the research about emergency planning in health.
14 October 2009
New research published by the SDO programme
The reports from four projects funded by the National Institute for Health Research Service Delivery and Organisation programme (NIHR SDO) have been published.
An evaluation of the modernisation of adult critical care services in England
(08/1604/133)
The project team led by Mr Andrew Hutchings has evaluated the impact of the modernisation of adult critical care services in England following the publication of Comprehensive Critical Care in May 2000 and have provided an early indication of overall impact on the provision, use and outcomes of critical care. To view the full project details please click here.
8 September 2009
NHS Evaluations Panel launches first call for proposals
The first call for proposals by the NHS Evaluations Panel was launched by the NIHR SDO programme yesterday.
The NHS Evaluations Panel will help meet the challenge of commissioning high quality research relevant to NHS needs. This panel considers the need for scientific evaluations of specific initiatives and innovations arising from developments in the NHS.
7 August 2009
New funding opportunities with the SDO programme
A call for proposals was launched by the NIHR SDO programme yesterday, aimed at improving patient outcomes by adding to the evidence base on the impact of closer engagement between academic researchers and healthcare managers. The MF261 SDO Management Fellowships - Evaluation call is intended to commission an external evaluation of the SDO Management Fellowships initiative that was implemented by the programme in early 2009.
25 June 2009
New funding opportunities with the SDO programme
Two calls for proposals were launched by the NIHR SDO programme today under the new NETSCC, SDO secretariat. As part of the new commissioning structure, the programme has opened its first calls under the new SDO Studies Panel and the Priority Areas Panel.
15 June 2009
New research projects on End of life care projects funded
Chapter 7 of the Department's End of Life Care Strategy sets out topics for which significant research opportunities exist. Following a recent call for research proposals we are pleased to confirm that the National Institute for Health Service Delivery and Organisation Programme is funding four new research projects on generalist services for people at the end of life, with a combined value of £1.4 million.
04 June 2009
SDO Annual Report 08/09 available now
During the SDO Network and HSRN delivering better health services conference on the 3rd & 4th June in Birmingham, Kieran Walshe the NIHR SDO programme Director, officially launched the 2008/09 annual report 1999-2009: a decade of achievement publication.
23 April 2009
NIHR and North East Strategic Health Authority joint event
The SDO programme will be represented by NETSCC at the NIHR and North East Strategic Health Authority joint event to promote the benefits of research in the NHS. This joint event aims to promote the benefits of research, showcase local activity and engage further with academics so that they can understand more fully the range of opportunities available through the NIHR.
01 April 2009
NETSCC, SDO take over management of the SDO programme
The SDO programme joined NETSCC on 1 April 2009 having been managed from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine since 1999. It aims to improve health outcomes for people by funding research evidence that improves practice in relation to the organisation and delivery of healthcare and has a predicted annual budget of £11m by 2011/12.
31 March 2009
New research application form for NETSCC, SDO
A new application form process is currently being designed by NETSCC, SDO and will be available in the very near future.
We are currently revising the process for applying for funding. NETSCC operates a needs-led, science-added approach. We are making a difference by improving the way the programme interacts with the wider funding environment as well as improving coordination between the different programmes within NETSCC.
14 March 2009
eCAS Support - New telephone number & email
As part of transfer to NETSCC the contact details for eCAS support will change, effective 31/3/2009.
The new email for eCAS queries & support is: sdo@southampton.ac.uk
The new telephone contact number is: 023 8059 8505
15 February 2009
Health Services Research Network and National Institute for Health Research Service Delivery and Organisation Programme 2009 joint annual conference.
Following on from the extremely successful 2008 joint conference and in celebration of SDO's tenth anniversary, the NIHR SDO and HSRN are again joining forces to offer two days of presentations and discussions at the leading edge of evidence-informed healthcare.



