How research innovation helps deliver better healthcare

Challenge

Improving the health access of those in isolated and vulnerable situations across the EU.

Solution

Linking expertise in research and analysis with tried and tested ways to implement findings, providing specialist support for actions that promote appropriate health interventions for key users.

Results

Produced findings that traditional methods would have failed to surface.

ICF is in the vanguard of new EU research to assess the needs and health issues faced by nine target groups of vulnerable and isolated people at high risk of experiencing poor health. The research set out to identify the barriers to accessing healthcare services and how respondents perceived both their health and access to health services.

The project drew on smarter research approaches to exploit findings as cost-effectively and efficiently as possible, with an emphasis on linking research findings to effective methods of implementation. This innovation, coupled with a wide range of traditional research methods, has helped to provide a foundation for tackling health inequalities and improving access to healthcare across EU member states. It is early days for the VulnerABLE Project– the research has been delivered and the targeted areas for actions have been shared. For all vulnerable and isolated people in the EU, it is important that this project fulfills its initial promise.