Third Sector Research Centre, School of Social Policy, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, UK
School of Health and Society, University of Salford, Salford, UK.
BMJ Open. 2019 Oct 7;9(10):e030243. doi: 10.1136/bmjopen-2019-030243.
To examine the forms, scale and role of community and voluntary support for community hospitals in England.
A multimethods study. Quantitative analysis of Charity Commission data on levels of volunteering and voluntary income for charities supporting community hospitals. Nine qualitative case studies of community hospitals and their surrounding communities, including interviews and focus groups.
Community hospitals in England and their surrounding communities.
Charity Commission data for 245 community hospital Leagues of Friends. Interviews with staff (89), patients (60), carers (28), volunteers (35), community representatives (20), managers and commissioners (9). Focus groups with multidisciplinary teams (8 groups across nine sites, involving 43 respondents), volunteers (6 groups, 33 respondents) and community stakeholders (8 groups, 54 respondents).
Communities support community hospitals through: human resources (average=24 volunteers a year per hospital); financial resources (median voluntary income = £15 632); practical resources through services and activities provided by voluntary and community groups; and intellectual resources (eg, consultation and coproduction). Communities provide valuable supplementary resources to the National Health Service, enhancing community hospital services, patient experience, staff morale and volunteer well-being. Such resources, however, vary in level and form from hospital to hospital and over time: voluntary income is on the decline, as is membership of League of Friends, and it can be hard to recruit regular, active volunteers.
Communities can be a significant resource for healthcare services, in ways which can enhance patient experience and service quality. Harnessing that resource, however, is not straight forward and there is a perception that it might be becoming more difficult questioning the extent to which it can be considered sustainable or 'renewable'.
考察英国社区和志愿组织对社区医院的支持形式、规模和作用。
多方法研究。对支持社区医院的慈善委员会数据中志愿活动水平和志愿收入进行定量分析。对 9 家社区医院及其周边社区进行 9 项定性案例研究，包括访谈和焦点小组。
英格兰的社区医院及其周边社区。
慈善委员会数据涉及 245 家社区医院友谊联盟。对工作人员（89 人）、患者（60 人）、护理人员（28 人）、志愿者（35 人）、社区代表（20 人）、经理和专员（9 人）进行访谈。对多学科团队（9 个地点 8 个小组，涉及 43 名受访者）、志愿者（6 个小组，33 名受访者）和社区利益相关者（8 个小组，54 名受访者）进行焦点小组讨论。
社区通过以下方式支持社区医院：人力资源（每家医院平均每年 24 名志愿者）；财务资源（志愿收入中位数=15632 英镑）；通过志愿和社区团体提供的服务和活动提供实际资源；以及知识资源（例如，咨询和共同制定）。社区为国民保健制度提供了有价值的补充资源，增强了社区医院的服务、患者体验、员工士气和志愿者的幸福感。然而，这些资源在医院之间和随时间变化而有所不同：志愿收入和友谊联盟的会员人数都在下降，招募定期、积极的志愿者也很困难。
社区可以成为医疗保健服务的重要资源，以增强患者体验和服务质量。然而，利用这种资源并不简单，人们认为这可能变得越来越困难，这引发了对其可持续性或“可再生性”的质疑。
