Autumn’s Research Summaries

Posted on Tuesday 25 November 2025

This autumn, CHE published seven new Research Summaries showcasing new insights into how health and care services are delivered, valued, and experienced. If you missed them, here’s a quick round-up of the key questions our researchers tackled:

In Home care use during the pandemic: who was affected the most? we examined shifts in home care utilisation during COVID-19, identifying which groups experienced the greatest changes. The findings offer important insights for future crisis planning and support for vulnerable populations.

In Can decision making be improved by sharing information? we explored how sharing information between decision makers can influence processes and outcomes in health-related decision analysis. The summary considers when and how shared information can enhance the quality of decisions.

In Do we value task shifting between health workers appropriately? we looked at the economic evidence behind task shifting, a practice where responsibilities move between professional groups, to assess whether current valuation approaches accurately reflect real-world practice and outcomes.

In Do you stay in hospital longer if you live alone? we investigated whether living alone affects hospital length of stay. The research sheds light on the relationship between social circumstances and discharge patterns, with implications for both health and social care planning.

In Does Adult Social Care boost local economies in England? we analysed the economic contribution of Adult Social Care (ASC) services at the local level. This work explores the extent to which investment in ASC generates wider economic benefits for communities across England.

In How well-designed payment systems can improve hospital care we examined how hospital payment mechanisms can influence provider behaviour and care quality. The summary highlights why careful design is essential to ensure incentives support, not distort, clinical priorities.

In Digital interventions in mental healthcare: are they cost-effective? we explored a tech-assisted, peer-delivered version of the WHO Thinking Healthy Programme, tested in Pakistan. The study finds that this digital, community-led approach can match the effectiveness of trained healthcare workers while offering a more scalable and cost-saving solution for resource-constrained settings.

All seven Research Summaries are available to download from the CHE website. They provide accessible, policy-focused overviews of ongoing research at CHE and are designed to support evidence-informed decision making across health and social care.

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