Community Transport Case Study: A model to explain and evaluate the activities and outcomes

creativity, collaboration and continuous improvement

In the Stitch in Time? programme we identify the role of the third sector in Reshaping Care for Older People.

In addition to an overall model, we are using a range of case studies to showcase particular interventions or types of project.

Each case study consists of two documents: one explaining the model of provision and the other describing the evaluation approach.

In this case study the focus is on the outcomes that come from community transport. The Stitch in Time programme team worked with Edinburgh Community Transport Operators Group (ECTOG) to develop a model that explained what they did and how they made a difference, and ways of evaluating community transport.

Introduction

Community transport is transport that is provided by the third sector in response to the needs of the local community. Community transport takes several forms:

• Self-drive vehicles for groups

• Group transport to other people’s services (e.g. day care)

• Group transport to services/trips organised by their own organisations

• Group transport for occasional trips/outings

• Individual transport

Background

www.evaluationsupportscotland.org.uk for “A Model to explain the third sector contribution to Reshaping Care for Older People”

Go to

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Older people need transport to access services and opportunities. Many older people don’t have access to private transport and rely on public transport. However, public transport doesn’t always meet the needs of older people, particularly those with physical, mental and sensory impairments. People in rural areas, are particularly badly affected.1

As a result, older people are at risk of not staying physically and socially active and not accessing the services and opportunities that they need and want.

In the meantime services are at risk of not being able to help the individuals and groups they want to support. For example older people cannot easily attend health appointments.

The current situation

Our model (on page 4) shows that some operators provide group and some provide individual transport. Also some input into planning for transport infrastructure and provide training to their own/ other project’s staff.

Key outcomes that come from this work are:

Short term outcomes:

• People access services and opportunities

• Services reach people they want to support

• Older people can make/enjoy the journey

Longer term outcomes:

• Older people maintain choice, control and independence

• Health and economic outcomes

• Stronger communities

Strategic outcomes:

• Older people can optimise quality of life/reduced health and social care cost

1 Review of literature around transport for older people, 2013, Stitch in Time paper (www.evaluationsupportscotland.org.uk/resources/)

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Community Transport model of prevention

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Research undertaken by Community Transport Association2 shows that the main benefit of community transport is the different approach it takes to dealing with older people.

What might appear to be relatively small aspects of community transport are actually the most significant factors in making community transport a better fit for older people. Physical assistance onto the vehicle is enormously important for some. Assistance with bags is a relatively easy task for an able bodied person but for a frail elderly person makes the experience of weekly shopping much more manageable.

It was significant that the quality of the people involved in providing community transport is very important to older people. Most were effusive in their praise of drivers and passenger assistants. Assistance onto and off vehicles is important, as well as patience and the manner in which staff or volunteers deal with older people. It became clear that the driver is an important factor in the overall experience of using transport. Several were critical of the attitude they experienced in drivers of mainstream bus services and taxis.

Users felt safe and comfortable on community transport. It was clear that the opportunity to meet with other people on vehicles was at least as important as getting to the places they wished to go. For some the journey itself was

What makes us successful?

something which gave them pleasure and there were instances where individuals were not particularly concerned where the vehicle was going but liked being driven around their local community or further afield.

Older people liked the fact that they themselves could arrange transport which met their needs. This independence was important to many as they did not like to be over-dependent on family and friends to take them to the places they needed to go.

2 Getting there: Older people telling their stories of the role of community transport in their lives. Community Transport Association, May 2014 (www.evaluationsupportscotland.org.uk/resources/)

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ECTOG members have some common outcomes, however it would be difficult to develop a standard evaluation system that would fit every type of community transport.

Community transport takes several forms (see page 2 for details). The form of transport dictates what is feasible to collect from both the people who use the service and from the services that benefit. Less information can be sought from self-hires and more where the operator is also providing other support and services for the same clients. For this reason whilst we have identified common indicators, not every operator will be able to collect that information.

It is difficult for many community transport operators to follow up with the individual to identify longer term outcomes. They are just part of the journey and are one step removed from the key outcomes which people get from taking up and using other services and opportunities.

The focus is on measuring short term outcomes around:

• People access services and opportunities

• Services reach people they want to support

• Older people can make/enjoy the journey

In the aforementioned literature review around trasport for older people 1 we identify research based evidence of the longer term outcomes of using community transport (see summary overleaf ).

Evaluation challenges

Our approach

In the grid shown in page 7, we have identified some indicators and methods used by ECTOG members.

Each operator uses the mix of methods that best suits their circumstances and is feasible for them to collect. Most of the indicators relate to data that operators might routinely collect in order to check and improve service quality. But that data can also be useful for evaluation.

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Evaluation Support Scotland, 5 Rose Street, Edinburgh EH2 2PR t: 0131 243 2770 e: info@evaluationsupportscotland.org.uk

Evaluation Support Scotland is a registered Scottish charity No. SC036529 and a company limited by guarantee, registered in Scotland, No. SC284843.

Photographs provided by Lochaber Action on Disability. Thank you to all who gave permission for use of photographs.

Supported by:

A Stitch in Time? is a partnership project to support the third sector to collect and present evidence about its contribution to Reshaping Care for Older People (RCOP). The programme runs from April 2013 to March 2015 and focuses on third sector organisations working with older people and carers in Lothian.

A model to explain the third sector contribution to Reshaping Care for Older People

Indicator Bank for third sector outcomes for older people 

Focus on third sector interventions that make the physical and social environment more age friendly

Focus on third sector interventions to enable older people to keep or be more socially connected

Evaluation Support Scotland (ESS) works with third sector organisations and funders so that they can measure and report on their impact.

www.evaluationsupportscotland.org.uk

A Stitch in Time? publications

To accompany this series there are evaluation case studies and a number of evidence reviews. To see all publications associated with A Stitch in Time please see Evaluation Support Scotland website.

Focus on third sector interventions that allow older people to stay positive and in control

Focus on third sector interventions to enable older people to keep or be more financially and materially secure

Focus on third sector interventions that make the system work better for older people

Focus on third sector interventions that ensure healthy and active ageing