Southern Ethiopia - Gwent Health Link

Aims of the evaluation

The work with the three Health Centres, commenced in November 2007, is ongoing and evolving. Evaluating the outcomes of the work, i.e. the extent to which the aim of establishing each as a ‘Centre of Excellence/Exemplar’ is being met, is similarly ongoing and evolving. It is important to acknowledge the early stage in the Exemplar Health Centre project at which evaluation work commenced and thus measuring project outcomes per se at this time is unrealistic. Expectations of change in such a short time period also need to be valid. It was apparent from initial visits that circumstance in each Health Centre, not least patient needs, staff changes and student rotation might inhibit the collection of consistent and similar data in each. Interviews in particular could prove difficult to conduct. Sample sizes would inevitably be small, given the nature of each Health Centre. The aim of the evaluation activities undertaken in March 2008 therefore was to simply obtain a clear picture of ‘what is now’ for future comparison and benchmarking and to assess the degree to which initial interventions were working (or not). Evaluation tools thus focused on simple assessment using a largely qualitative, case study/descriptive approach rather than quantitative analysis with statistical significance.

The March 2008 evaluation activities, described in this report largely focused on process issues and aimed to:

• determine the extent to which training, resources and equipment had been used thus far and with what impact
• establish some simple baselines for future measurement of achievements
• use the outcomes of the evaluation to identify ‘next steps’/ action plans for ongoing work with colleagues in the Health Centres, particularly in relation to defining an exemplar and identifying criteria that could measure standards to affirm exemplar status (see section 13 of this report).

Evaluation over a longer period of time aims to determine what impact the interventions have made on the skills of the personnel in the Health Centres and to identify positive changes in healthcare provision for the population they serve. These are more difficult to demonstrate as there are factors, both positive and negative, outside the work of the Link that may influence the healthcare outcomes of the population using each Health Centre.