Government Social Research
‘A Literature Review on Multiple and Complex Needs’ was commissioned to inform the Scottish Executive’s Multiple and Complex Need (MCN) Initiative which aims to improve public services for people with MCN. The purpose of the review was to collate and evaluate existing research to understand the processes through which people with MCN engage, or do not engage, with services to resolve their problems.
The research is structured around key stages of service use, exploring the pathways people with MCN follow through services. The review identified a range of promoting and inhibiting influences on their experiences of accessing, engaging with and moving through services, and on the outcomes of their service use. A key focus of the review was to identify good practice in light of the evidence.
The Initiative is also currently funding an overarching evaluation of 14 pilot/demonstration projects, representing a wide range of services, settings and client groups all of whom face particular barriers. The aim of the evaluation is to identify key, generic lessons of what works and what doesn’t across the pilot projects and to share learning from these projects with relevant service providers and policy makers. The ultimate aim is to identify what interventions in the programme most effectively impact on how people with multiple and complex needs are made aware of, access, engage with and move through services to achieve successful outcomes.
The contractors for this work, Cambridge Policy Consultants have developed an evaluation framework and conducted start up interviews with the 14 projects. Their next step is to conduct action research workshops on topics agreed by the projects. The pilot/demonstration projects are funded until March 2008 and the evaluation aims to be complete in Autumn 2008.
For more information on the Multiple and Complex Needs Programme Evaluation or for hard copies of the research findings paper ‘A Literature Review on Multiple and Complex Need: Lessons for Policy and Practice’ please contact Leyla.Charlaff@scotland.gsi.gov.uk
The report can be viewed on the Scottish Executive website