Out-of-Hospital Cardiac Arrest (OHCA) strategy: case study

Annex B: Sample Interview schedule and standardised introductory letter

Opening discussion:

Firstly ‘name of interviewee’, thank you for taking the time to discuss the OHCA Strategy with me today. The focus of today’s interview is to understand the OHCA Strategy in the context of what has been called the ‘Scottish Approach’. The ‘Scottish Approach’ is a term that describes how the government designs and delivers its public service policies, and there are reported to be several features of this approach: outcome based, co-produced, asset-based, preventative, system-wide and cross sectoral working.

Awareness

1) To what extent have you heard the term or the idea of the ‘Scottish Approach’?

Yes – in what context? Can you give an example?

No – have you heard of anything similar?

Application

2) To what extent do you think the design and delivery of the OHCA Strategy can be considered an example of the ‘Scottish Approach’?

- specific time (i.e. initial set up phase, on-going delivery, outcomes)

- any specific element (i.e. focus on communities, resources, resilience)

3) How has this approach – the Scottish Approach – contributed to the achieving the overall aims of the strategy?

Successes and challenges

4a) What aspects of the design and delivery of the OHCA Strategy have contributed to its success so far?

- different phases (set-up and/or on-going delivery)

4b) What aspects of the design and delivery of the OHCA Strategy delivery can be improved?

- what further gains can be achieved and how

5) In your opinion, what aspect of the design/delivery of the OHCA Strategy:

a) is having the most positive effect?

b) is most important to your organisation?

Wider application – transferrable

6a) Are there aspects of the design and delivery of this strategy that you think can be applied in other policy areas?

- if so, which part?

6b) Are there aspects of other policies or practice that you think this strategy can learn from?

- if so, which practice or policy?

Other

7) Are there any other aspects of the OHCA Strategy or the Scottish Approach that you believe are relevant/important for this interview?

End of interview

Dear……………

I am contacting you in your role as part of the group involved in the design and delivery of Scotland’s Out-of-Hospital Cardiac Arrest Strategy. I am on a research internship with the Scottish Government working in Karen MacNee’s team. The research is using the Out-of-Hospital Cardiac Arrest Strategy as a case study to understand and improve the “Scottish Approach” in practice. As you may be aware the ‘Scottish Approach’ to public policy focuses on ideas such as cross sectoral working, asset-based interventions and a system-wide focus.

As a key partner is the development and delivery of the strategy, I would like to invite you to do a short, informal face-to-face interview for this research. I am looking to obtain evidence on how the policy was designed, and how it is being delivered.

I am able to travel to your place of work, and I anticipate interviews will last approximately 30-45 minutes, however this can be adapted to fit with your availability. With permission, interviews will be audio recorded and notes will be taken. After relevant themes have been identified, audio recordings will be deleted.

Background

Scotland’s first national OHCA Strategy, published in 2015, may share some of the features of the ‘Scottish Approach’. This interview will focus on the following broad areas:

1) Awareness of the ‘Scottish Approach’ and its role

2) Whether the OHCA Strategy displays facets of this approach, and what impact this has had

3) The role of the Scottish model in the successes and challenges of delivering the strategy

4) Overlap and transferable lessons to other policy areas

We believe the findings here can inform future policy delivery, not only for OHCA, but also other policy areas. It is our intention to share our findings within the Scottish Government, as well as publish the results in an academic journal.

Thank you for your consideration
Adam Lloyd
Scottish Graduate School of Social Science Research Intern
DG Health & Social Care
The Scottish Government