This activity is part of Healthy Working Life, a joint programme of the West Yorkshire Combined Authority and NHS West Yorkshire Integrated Care Board.
Why evaluation matters
With over 60 Healthy Working Life (HWL) pilot projects underway evaluation is essential to help understand what works well, what needs to change and what we can improve in the future. A key aim is to share this learning with health and care colleagues across West Yorkshire, so future projects can build on real experience.
Our approach to evaluation and monitoring
Evaluation is in two parts: national and West Yorkshire wide.
The national evaluation is led by the Rose-NET team, a collaboration between the University of Manchester, the University of Leeds and Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust. It is commissioned by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NIHR) on behalf of NHS England and West Yorkshire Integrated Care Board (ICB).
The national evaluation takes a high-level view, while the West Yorkshire evaluation looks in more detail at local delivery and provider experience. Will Ridge, Senior Evaluation Manager and Gemma Howorth, Senior Analytics and Insight Manager, recognise both the value of the work and the challenges for providers.
As Will explains: “We can always learn and we can always improve. Talking to people who have been on the ground and having to work through the process of evaluation is really important.”
Gemma adds: “Collecting data helps identify the most effective interventions, strengthens the evidence base for future funding and underpins the case for continuing and expanding Healthy Working Life approaches.”
Alongside quantitative data, we also collect qualitative insight through interviews and conversations with providers. This gives organisations opportunities to talk about what it has taken to get projects up and running.
Data submission and support
Providers send in their data once a month using a standard Excel template from the national programme. To help with this, we produced a simple guidance document and ran webinars explaining how to submit the data.
The completed templates are uploaded securely through an online portal by the 15th of each month. Providers are supported to get the codes they need to upload their data safely. The webinars were recorded so providers can watch them again and additional NHS England guidance is available through the portal.
We provide ongoing support to providers throughout the process as Laura Dixon, Health Care Manager-Health Care Public Health, explains:
“It’s not people’s everyday job - it’s an add-on. It’s a steep learning process, so we provide information in stages to avoid overwhelming people.”
Provider experiences
We spoke to three provider organisations about their experience of using the evaluation template and uploading data.
Change Grow Live (CGL)
Change Grow Live is a health and social care charity providing free, confidential support around drug and alcohol use, homelessness, justice, employment and wellbeing.
CGL Kirklees operates the ‘individual placement and support’ (IPS) model of employment support. The Healthy Working Life project was conceived in order to increase the numbers of referrals to IPS support for CGL service users that were accessing treatment for opiate misuse. This is a cohort that is under-represented in referrals for employment support.
Andrew Craig, CGL’s Senior Employment Specialist, Individual Placement and Support found the evaluation process challenging:
“The demands on time weren’t anticipated. The reporting spreadsheet wasn’t user-friendly and there was lots of jargon.”
Andrew described technical issues that were hard to spot and fix:
“There were regularly errors on the reporting spreadsheet that you couldn’t see with the naked eye - things like commas where a cell had been clicked on but no text added. This caused the data uploads using the spreadsheet to be rejected”
He also highlighted the difficulty of measuring outcomes in this type of work:
“Soft outcomes are more difficult to measure. Although we strive for hard outcomes, such as jobs, for our clients , often this results in soft outcomes, sowing the seeds of the idea of work to people using heroin. Some people need more time before they’re ready to engage with employers.”
Despite the challenges, Andrew acknowledged that support was responsive and reflected on the importance of co-production:
“We need to co-produce solutions rather than impose them.”
Community Wellness Champions
The Community Wellness Champion project is delivered through a coordinated approach by three VCSE organisations, working alongside St Mary’s Community Centre, Havercroft and Ryhill Community Learning Centre and RedRoof community centre CIC. The project gives local residents the opportunity to talk about their health and wellbeing, receive a blood pressure check and access lifestyle advice and onward support. It helps to identify undiagnosed conditions, prevent future ill health and connects people with employment support services where needed.
Havercroft and Ryhill Community Learning Centre
The Havercroft and Ryhill Community Learning Centre provides activities for people of all ages, including youth groups, over-55 activities, parent and toddler sessions and a community cafe.
Katherine Walker, Assistant Manager and Chloe-Wednesday Thompson, Admin Assistant, described starting from scratch with no previous experience of data uploads.
“When you don’t have any knowledge and you see the Excel spreadsheet, you panic.”
They explained that breaking the task down and receiving one-to-one support made a big difference:
“The IT support we received really helped us navigate the evaluation process. Everybody has been really easy to communicate with.”
They also valued the reassurance that they were doing things correctly:
“We didn’t have anything sent back to us – so we knew we must be doing it right.”
Chloe reflected on the longer-term benefits:
“This has taught me that you can break it down and it’s not as difficult as it first looks. That confidence will be helpful in the future.”
St Mary’s Community Centre, Pontefract
St Mary’s Community Centre provides adult education, health and wellbeing activities and community support.
Denise Pallett, Operations Manager, described a mixed but supported experience.
“The first month was OK, but the second month we had problems uploading. When you see errors coming up, it’s a bit scary.”
Although she found some technical issues difficult, Denise emphasised the value of support:
“The team has been really helpful and made sure we had lots of resources.”
Her advice to others was clear:
“Don’t be afraid to ask. There’s plenty of support available and people have been very supportive and understanding.”
Learning and adapting our approach
Will said: “There’s lots of great work happening, but it’s a big and onerous task. Smaller organisations don’t have IT departments, so they need extra support.”
Gemma highlighted that written guidance alone is not enough:
“The step-by-step guide we produced is just the first step. People really need someone on the other side of the screen to help them understand error messages and what to do next.”
This feedback has reinforced the importance of responsive, one-to-one support alongside technical guidance.
As Laura reflected: “I’m not a data person but knowing where to connect into the wider system for help shows that the right support is in place.”
What we’ve learned
The evaluation process has shown that:
- data collection is essential but challenging, especially for smaller providers
- one-to-one support is critical to building confidence and capability
- breaking tasks into manageable steps reduces anxiety and improves engagement
- provider feedback must continue to shape how evaluation is designed and delivered
This learning will help strengthen future Healthy Working Life and other initiatives ensuring the evaluation approaches work for everyone involved.
You can also read the evaluating the Healthy Working Life programme in West Yorkshire case study as a PDF.