Implementing new roles in mental health trusts
Participant Information Sheet (Staff)
● You are being invited to take part in a research study.
● Before you decide whether to participate, it is important to understand why the research is being done and what it will involve.
● Please read the following information carefully and take time to decide whether you wish to take part. You can discuss it with others if you wish or ask us if anything is not clear or you would like more information.
Why is this research study taking place?
Mental health services in the NHS face a staffing crisis. One answer has been to create new roles and change how care is delivered. Previous research has looked at new roles in isolation to decide if they improve care, but this often ignores how the whole team is affected by the changes. New roles mean existing roles also change, e.g. staff may give up some tasks or spend time supervising others to do them. Service users may get care from larger teams, including new staff with unfamiliar job titles, which may affect continuity of care.
Our aim is to discover how new roles can be introduced successfully. As part of this project, we will visit four mental health Trusts to look at what happens in practice when different types of new role are introduced. We will identify clinical teams that have recently introduced new roles and spend time in those teams, observing meetings and other activities. We will also invite staff, service users and carers to take part in interviews about their experiences of new roles. We want to find out what has worked well and where there have been difficulties. We will use what we find out to create practical guidance for people managing and planning new roles in mental health trusts.
Why have I been invited to take part in this research?
● You have been invited to take part as you are either working in a new role, or with colleague(s) who are working in new roles.
● We want to speak to approximately 8-10 staff in your team.
What will happen to me if I take part? What do I have to do?
● You will be asked to take part in an interview (or in a few cases two interviews) with a researcher from the University of Sheffield.
● This will probably be online or telephone, although it can be face-to-face at your clinical location if you prefer.
● The interview will take no more than an hour and will be recorded to make sure we have an accurate record of what has been said.
● We will ask about your experiences of working in a new role or with colleagues working in new roles, how this was introduced, and what impact it has had. We will ask broad questions so that you can tell us what is important to you.
● We may also ask you for suggestions about service users we can talk to about their experience of staff in a new role.
The interview will be typed up afterwards by a transcriber who is based at the University of Sheffield.
Do I have to take part? Can I change my mind?
● You are free to choose whether or not to take part in the research.
● If you do decide to take part, you will be asked to complete a consent form and we will then contact you to arrange an interview.
● During the interview, you can choose to take a break or change your mind about taking part and the researcher will stop the recording and delete it if you request.
● You can stop being part of the study at any time after the interview, without giving a reason, but after one month your information will have been analysed and added to our wider dataset, so it will no longer be possible to remove it.
● There will be no negative consequences if you decide not to take part or choose to withdraw. If you wish to withdraw, please contact Dr Emily Wood, e.f.wood@sheffield.ac.uk
Please note that that choosing to participate in this research will not create a legally binding agreement, nor is it intended to create an employment relationship between you and the University of Sheffield
What are the possible disadvantages of taking part?
● We do not think that there will be any problems in taking part in this interview apart from giving up your time to do it.
● If you get upset by anything that we talk about, you can choose not to answer certain questions. You can also stop the interview or take a break at any time.
What are the possible benefits of taking part?
● You will receive a CPD certificate to record your participation in the research.
● If you are unable to do the interview in work time, we will also send you a £25 high street shopping voucher (Love2shop) as a thank-you for your time.
Whilst there are no direct benefits to you for taking part in this study, we hope the information we get from this study will help us produce guidance on how to introduce new roles into mental health teams in the future in a way that most benefits staff and service users and carers.
How will you use information about me? What will happen to the data collected, and the results of the research project?
The research data
· We will need to use information from you for this research project. This information will include your name and contact details and the information from the interview. People will use this information to do the research or to check that the research is being done properly.
People who do not need to know who you are will not be able to see your name or contact details. Your data will have a code number instead.
Any personal details that we hold (name and contact details) will be held only until the end of the research project. We will use these details to send you a summary of the research findings.
· We will keep all information about you safe and secure according to University policies.
Only members of the research team and transcribers based in the University of Sheffield will have access to the original recording and transcript from the interview.
In-person and telephone interviews will be audio recorded on encrypted digital recorders then uploaded onto the University’s secure network in access-restricted folders. Online video recordings will be converted to audio recordings as soon as possible after the interview and stored in the same secure folders.
The recordings will be typed up by staff at the University who have signed a contract of confidentiality, and your name and any other details that could identify you will be removed.
The recording will be deleted at the end of the research project.
All consent information will be stored securely online. Information from any paper consent forms will be transferred online and the paper copy destroyed.
Once we have finished the study, we will keep some of the data so we can check the results. We will keep the anonymised transcripts and other data from the research for 5 years.
It is very likely that other researchers may find the data helpful in answering future research questions. After the study is completed, data from the research will be archived in the University of Sheffield’s database of research data (ORDA) but this will not contain any personal information about you. Other researchers can apply to use this data but only if they follow strict requirements to ensure confidentiality.
· All data will be handled in accordance with the Data Protection Act (2018).
The results
Results of the study will be written up as a report and in publications, as well as being presented at conferences and other events.
We will write our reports and presentations in a way that no-one can work out that you took part in the study. We may use quotes from your interview, but your name and other identifying information will be removed first.
We will use what we find out to produce guidelines to help organisations and managers introduce new roles into mental health services in ways that are best for staff, service users and carers.
We will upload any written reports or articles relating to the project on our website: New Roles in MH (google.com)
If you like, we can send you a summary of the results at the end of the project (summer 2025).
Confidentiality
We regard confidentiality as extremely important, and all the information we collect about you during the research will be kept strictly confidential.
· However, in the unlikely event that issues regarding criminality or safeguarding arise in the interviews, we have a legal responsibility to pass this information on to the appropriate authorities.
You can find out more about how we use your information by contacting:
· the research team at newrolesresearch@sheffield.ac.uk
· the University’s Data Protection Officer at dataprotection@sheffield.ac.uk
· online at www.hra.nhs.uk/information-about-patients
For further information
For further details, please contact Dr Jaqui Long or Dr Sally Sanger at newrolesresearch@sheffield.ac.uk, tel 07738 101972 who are leading this part of the research. If you are unable to reach Jaqui or Sally, you can contact Dr Emily Wood or Prof Damian Hodgson who are responsible for the study e.f.wood@sheffield.ac.uk or d.hodgson@sheffield.ac.uk
Thank you for your interest in this research.
Legal and technical information
We are required to provide you with the following legal and technical information.
What is the legal basis for processing my personal data?
According to data protection legislation, we are required to inform you that the legal basis we are applying in order to process your personal data is that ‘processing is necessary for the performance of a task carried out in the public interest’ (Article 6(1)(e)). Further information can be found in the University’s Privacy Notice https://www.sheffield.ac.uk/govern/data-protection/privacy/general
Who is the Data Controller?
The University of Sheffield will act as the Data Controller for this study. This means that the University is responsible for looking after your information and using it properly.
Who is organising and funding the research?
This research is organised by the University of Sheffield and has been funded by the National Institute of Health Research (NIHR) Health and Social Care Delivery Research Programme, reference number 152665.
Who is responsible for insurance for the project?
Sheffield Health and Social Care NHS Foundation Trust is the NHS sponsor for this project, and is responsible all insurance arrangements relating to its management and design.
Who has ethically reviewed the project?
This project has been reviewed and approved by the North of Scotland Research Ethics Committee reference 24/NS/0017.
What if I am not happy and wish to complain about the research?
● If you have any concerns or wish to complain about the research, you can contact Dr Emily Wood or Prof Damian Hodgson who are responsible for this study (see below for details).
● If you do not feel that your complaint has been handled to your satisfaction, you can contact the Head of Department Professor Mark Strong, m.strong@sheffield.ac.uk
● If your complaint relates to how your personal data has been handled, you can contact The University of Sheffield’s Data Protection Officer, Luke Thompson: dataprotection@sheffield.ac.uk.
● If you wish to report of a concern or incident relating to potential exploitation, abuse or harm resulting from your involvement in this project, please contact the project’s Designated Safeguarding Contact, Dr Emily Wood, e.f.wood@sheffield.ac.uk.
● If the concern or incident relates to the Designated Safeguarding Contact, or if you feel a report you have made to this Contact has not been handled in a satisfactory way, please contact the Head of the Department, Dean Prof Mark Strong: m.strong@sheffield.ac.uk and/or the University’s Research Ethics & Integrity Manager, Lindsay Unwin: l.v.unwin@sheffield.ac.uk.
● Further information about how to raise a complaint can be found in the University’s Privacy Notice: https://www.sheffield.ac.uk/govern/data-protection/privacy/general. If you feel your complaint has not been handled to your satisfaction, you can contact the Information Commissioner’s Office.
Staff participant information sheet v2. 14/2/24
IRAS Ref 333780