A systematic review of the evidence on home care reablement services

Objective To determine whether publically funded ‘reablement services’ have any effect on patient health or use of services. Design Systematic review of randomised controlled trials and non-randomized studies in which reablement interventions were compared to no care or usual care in people referred to public funded personal care services. Data sources included: Cochrane central register of controlled trials, EPOC register of studies, trials registers, Medline, Embase, and Cinhal. Searches were from 2000 up to end February 2015. Setting Not applicable. Participants Investigators’ definition of the target population for reablement interventions. Main outcome measures Use of publically-funded personal care services and dependence in personal activities of daily living (PADL). Results We found no studies fulfilling our inclusion criteria that assessed the effectiveness of reablement interventions. We did note the lack of an agreed understanding of the nature of reablement. Conclusions Reablement is an ill-defined intervention targeted towards an ill-defined and potentially highly heterogeneous population/ patient group. There is no evidence to suggest it is effective at either of its goals, increasing personal independence or reducing use of personal care services

Can management strategy minimize the impact of red tape on organizational performance?

This study investigates the effects of red tape and strategy on organizational performance. Data come from 135 English local government authorities. Data are collected on several dimensions of red tape, three types of strategy (prospecting, defending, and reacting), and internal and external perceptual measures of organizational performance. The findings show that red tape lowers performance. The harmful effects of red tape are, however, mitigated by a strategic stance of prospecting. Defending has no effect on the impact of red tape on organizational performance, whereas reacting tends to amplify the harmful effects—thus worsening organizational performance. The primary implication of these findings is that public organizations should move toward more proactive strategies