An evaluation of Wigan Council’s Partnership for Older People Project

Purpose: Wigan Council participated in the Department of Health for England’s Partnership for Older People Project (POPP) and piloted eleven community based schemes for promoting older people’s health and well-being and reducing their need for higher intensity forms of care. This paper describes evaluation activity that guided decisions about the development and ongoing sustainability of these schemes. Methods: a mixed method, observational study design generated information about the number and characteristics of POPP service users and the ‘value’ and ‘effectiveness’ of POPP schemes from the perspectives of older people and other POPP stakeholders. Main findings: from May 2006 through January 2008 there were 7,572 referrals to POPP schemes. A survey covering 1,362 service users and interviews with whole system stakeholders revealed high levels of support for POPP schemes in terms of their relevance, value and ability to promote partnership working between agencies. Results also offered ‘plausible’ evidence that some schemes were helping to reduce older people’s use of more intensive and higher cost services. Implications: evaluation results supported a decision that all POPP schemes should be sustained when pilot funding from the Department of Health ended. The study also demonstrated the importance of local evaluation activity when developing new services.