Application of a novel disinvestment research design to the use of weekend allied health services on acute medical and surgical wards - randomised trial and economic evaluation protocol

Abstract

Some currently provided health services have an absence of evidence for effectiveness, cost-effectiveness and/or safety. These are candidates for disinvestment. It is possible that such services would prove valuable if trials were to be conducted however, making disinvestment a clear risk. Provision of these services in the context of usual care is a considerable barrier to conducting a conventional trial of these interventions. Our team has recently developed a novel research approach to conduct a trial in this context. In this paper, we describe the first application of this design.