PROSPER

PROSPER (Personalised Care Planning for Older People) is a research project that we are currently participating in.

To be eligible for this project, you must be aged 65 or over, to discuss participating please contact the Surgery and ask to speak to a member of the Research Team.

We have sent out invitations via letter for this project.

1 Why are we doing this study?
As people get older, they can be more likely to have multiple long-term health conditions, need assistance or have challenges in their daily lives.
The aim of the PROSPER study is to look at how older people can possibly be helped to maintain and improve their wellbeing so they can get the most out of their lives.
This study is randomised, so some people will receive the PROSPER intervention (service), but others will continue with their usual form of care. Older adults in the intervention group will initially meet with an Age UK worker at home. They will then work together for around 12 weeks. The Age UK worker will identify areas that are important to the individual and work with them to develop a plan to achieve agreed goals. All the support offered is aimed at enabling individuals to live independent, enjoyable, and healthy lives for longer. Individuals will be contacted by letter and phone by an Age UK worker and an appointment for a home visit will be arranged.
Due to the design of this study, there is a chance you will not be offered the PROSPER intervention. You have around a 3 in 5 chance of being offered the intervention. Which people will be offered
the intervention is decided by chance. This means that neither the GP surgery, nor the researchers who run the study, can influence this. Those not in the PROSPER intervention group will continue with their usual care and support. We will follow up people in both groups. In this way, we can compare the two groups of people at the end of the study.
We work closely with a group of independent lay people like you to ensure the design of this study is relevant and appropriate.

3 What will happen if I take part?
Do I have to take part?
No, your participation is voluntary, and you may withdraw your consent to take part at any time, without giving us a reason.
What will happen to me if I agree to take part?
If, after reading this information, you are interested in taking part, you will be asked to complete a reply form or text / call us and a researcher will telephone you to talk more about the study. They will ask you some questions to make sure you are eligible to take part. They will also ask if we can collect some details such as the name of your GP Practice and your date of birth (for
identification purposes only). They will then arrange a visit in your own home at a time convenient for you.
At the visit, the researcher will discuss the study in more detail and ask you to sign a consent form to document your willingness for us to collect your information.

If you are willing to take part:
1. If you are eligible, you will complete some short questionnaires about your general health and quality of life, day-to-day activities, and use of care services. This first visit is likely to last 1-2 hours. If we need to keep to short home visits due to COVID19, we may leave a booklet for you to complete in your own time. A researcher will then call you to collect the answers over the
telephone.

2. We will ask you to complete follow up questionnaires 6 and 12 months later. The research team will send you a £10 gift voucher before the 12-month questionnaire as a token of appreciation for your help in completing the questionnaires.

3. We will collect information about your health and care from electronic health records, for example hospital attendances and admissions.

4. If you are randomly allocated to the “intervention” group of the study, you will be contacted first by letter, and then by telephone by a team member from Age UK
to arrange a visit in your own home. The Age UK worker’s name will be made known to you before their visit in case you are worried about a stranger coming to your home.

5. We will also ask a small selection of participants if they would be willing to discuss their experience of the PROSPER intervention with a researcher. If selected, we would contact you separately and give you full information before asking if you want to take part. You do not have to do this but can still take part in the study.

4 What are the advantages and risks of taking part?
We hope that this study will improve quality of life for older people in the future. If you are in the intervention group, you may benefit by having a personalised care plan, but we cannot say that you will definitely experience an improvement Agreeing to complete questionnaires will mean giving up some of your time to do this.

We do not expect there will be any direct risks or disadvantages to taking part.