• Examining information already being collected by the PCT and local authority about the number of older people across the county being admitted to hospital as an emergency, going into long-term residential or nursing home care and being supported to live at home
• Monitoring the number of older people being supported by the POPP schemes, what services they receive and what happens to them
• A short (outcomes-focused) local Quality of Life Questionnaire, which is filled in by all POPP service users, and a longer national Quality of Life Questionnaire, which a sample of around 80 POPP service users completed
• One-to-one interviews with a sample of around 30 POPP service users
• Two ‘thematic evaluations’ which focused on the impact of POPP services on carers and the impact of POPP on organisations, teams and staff.

The information gained from all these parts of the evaluation was also used to carry out an ‘economic appraisal’ and to assess the sustainability of the local schemes.

The evaluation was supported by an Older People’s Advisory Group of 12 older people drawn from across the County.  8 members of the group were also trained as ‘community researchers’ and worked directly with the evaluation team on some of the fieldwork for the evaluation.

The findings from the evaluation have been used to inform local decisions about the commissioning and delivery of service for older people across the county and the data collected locally has been used as part of the POPP national evaluation being led by the University of Hertfordshire.