eConsult

The eConsult project explores enablers, barriers and the effectiveness of the online evaluation tool of the same name that is currently being used in Devon and Cornwall. A £75,000 project, it is co-funded by NHS Kernow Clinical and NHS Northern, Eastern and Western Devon Clinical Commissioning Groups and the South West Academic Health Science Network.

This project critically responds to the need for independent evaluation on online consultation tools and addresses identified limitations of existing research by exploring the perspectives of both healthcare providers and patients and its cost implications. With the implementation of eConsult at an early stage and an increasing drive towards its expansion, an accurate understanding of its effectiveness is imperative.

Led by Dr Arunangsu Chatterjee, this timely research seeks to evaluate the effectiveness of eConsult using a mixed-methods design informed by Normalisation Process Theory.

The Normalisation Process Theory proposes four constructs for the different kinds of work people to do to implement a new practice:

• Coherence - what people do when faced with implementing a new practice operationally
• Cognitive Participation - what people do to sustain a practice/operation around new technology
• Collective Action - what people to do to implement the new technology operationally
• Reflexive Monitoring - what people to do to appraise the new way of working and its impact.

An Action Theory, it is concerned with what people do in this process rather than attitudes if beliefs.