Abstract
Background digitalisation within English care homes offers potential to make more effective use of substantial data collected by staff during care planning and recording. A pilot minimum data set (MDS) was co-designed with stakeholders based on two digital care records (DCRs) with additional structured measures.Objectives to explore care home staff opinions and experiences of collecting structured measures of quality of life (QoL), cognition and function for residents and how MDS data might be used by staff and other professionals interested in care homes.Design: focus groups (FGs) and interviewsSetting: three Integrated Care System (ICS) regions of EnglandSubjects: care home staff and ICS participantsMethods online FGs and interviews using a semi-structured topic guide. Data collection involved two waves of care home FGs, following MDS data capture, and one with ICS participants. Reflexive thematic analysis was used to develop themes.Results twenty-four staff from 22 homes and 16 staff from 15 homes participated in wave one and two FGs respectively. Ten ICS participants from two of three regions participated. Three themes were developed: the care home context and the importance of an MDS for care, appropriateness and relevance of QoL measures to resident care, and data quality and purpose.Conclusions it is feasible for staff to collect structured measures on resident QoL, function and cognition using DCRs to contribute to an MDS. The data generated can inform and enhance resident care. However, implementation is an evolving process requiring support, trust-building and confidence among those collecting and interpreting data.