Rehabilitation framework self-assessment tool: analysis of responses

2. The respondents and responses

2.1 This chapter provides information about the respondents to the survey and the responses submitted.

Number of responses received and number included in the analysis

2.2 The survey received 281 responses. Nearly all of these (278) were submitted through the online response form. However, three responses were submitted by email. Following an initial review, one response was removed because it had been submitted by a paediatric rehabilitation team. This response was considered to be out of scope, since the Framework and the survey were intended to cover adult rehabilitation services.

2.3 Thus, the total number of responses included in the analysis was 280.

About the respondents

2.4 The survey included four introductory questions which asked respondents for information about their service, in particular:

• The area of rehabilitation covered by their service
• Who their service was mainly delivered to (i.e. inpatients, outpatients, or patients / clients in community or primary care services)
• The type of rehabilitation professionals involved in delivering their service
• The geographical location (i.e. health board or health and social care partnership (HSCP) area) of their service.

2.5 At each question, respondents were asked to select an answer from a list of options.^[1] The responses indicated that rehabilitation teams in Scotland are configured in a wide variety of ways and are operating in a complex landscape. Teams often include a range of specialists providing services to different patient groups in a variety of settings. See Annex 1 for further details.

Area of rehabilitation covered

2.6 Survey respondents indicated that their teams covered a wide range of different service areas. The most common area was 'community rehabilitation' (selected by 18% of respondents), followed by 'older people's rehabilitation' (10%), 'musculoskeletal rehabilitation' (7%) and 'neuro rehabilitation' (6%). 'Specialist rehabilitation', 'mental health – adult rehabilitation', 'stroke-related rehabilitation', and 'cardiac rehabilitation' were the main area of activity for 5% of respondents. All the other options offered in the questionnaire were selected by fewer than 5% of respondents. However, a fifth of respondents (20%) chose 'other', rather than one of the 22 options listed in the survey. Those who chose 'other' often said their team provided rehabilitation in more than one area. (See Table A1.1 in Annex 1.)

Main service user group

2.7 The largest proportion of respondents (40%) provided a service to people in the community. Just over a quarter (27%) and just under a fifth (19%) provided a service to hospital inpatients and outpatients respectively. A small proportion of respondents (3%) provided rehabilitation to people in primary care services. (See Table A1.2 in Annex 1.)

Rehabilitation professionals included in the responses

2.8 The two rehabilitation professionals involved most often in responding teams were physiotherapists (69% of respondents said their team had one or more physiotherapists) and occupational therapists (55% said their team had one or more OTs).

2.9 Relatively high proportions of respondents also said their teams included healthcare support workers (37%), nurses (29%), and speech and language therapists (18%). Between 10% and 15% of respondents reported having a dietitian, doctor or psychologist in their team. Fewer than 10% reported having a prosthetist / orthotist, podiatrist, radiographer, paramedic, orthoptist, art therapist or music therapist. None of the respondents said they had a drama therapist in their team. (See Table A1.3 in Annex 1.)

2.10 It is worth noting that nearly half of respondents (126 out of 280, 45%) reported that their response covered just one type of rehabilitation professional. A similar proportion (122 out of 280, 44%) said their response included between two and five types of rehabilitation professionals. Just over a tenth of respondents (32 out of 280, 11%) were responding on behalf of teams with more than five types of rehabilitation professionals.

Geographical location of responses

2.11 Most respondents, 84% (234 out 280) were based in NHS services, while 16% (46) said they were based in an HSCP. In addition, all 14 territorial NHS boards plus the Golden Jubilee National Hospital^[2] were represented in the responses, compared to around three-quarters of Scotland's HSCPs (23 of the 31). (See Table A1.4 in Annex 1.)

2.12 The largest proportion of respondents were from NHS Lothian (14%) and NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde (13%). Other NHS boards with a relatively large proportion of respondents (between 5–10%) were NHS Grampian, NHS Fife, NHS Highland, NHS Tayside and NHS Forth Valley.

Responses to individual questions

2.13 Nearly all those who responded to the survey provided an answer at every question. There were only five questions which received fewer than 280 replies, and in each case, only one or two of the respondents did not answer these questions. Thus, there was a 100% or nearly 100% response rate to all questions. See Annex 2 for details.