UK Mobility Centres and Cognitive Assessment Tools

Dr Pat Chung, Senior Lecturer in the School of Allied Health Professions, is collaborating with a project team including Mr. Ed Passant, the CEO and Mr. Anuraj Varshney, the Chair of the Forum of Mobility Centre (FoMC), on conducting an audit to evaluate the effectiveness of each of the cognitive assessments.

This project is a joint collaboration between Canterbury Christ Church University and the FoMC, and supported by a Canterbury Christ Church University funded research assistant. The project started in Jan 2014 and ended in July 2015. 

The aim of this project is to conduct an audit by using a piloted redesigned data collection method to evaluate the way in which Cognitive Assessment Tools are currently being applied across all Mobility Centres (MCs) in UK. The redesigned data collection method will ultimately improve existing data collection methods to ensure sustainability and availability of appropriate data for further research and evaluation. This is an important step to develop strategies to ensure whether each assessment tool is being utilised in a consistent way, so as to ensure consistency of outcome across Mobility Centres in the UK, and to enhance evidence-based practice. The findings from the audit will form the basis of an action plan for the FoMC to take forward.

The FoMC is a key partner in PORTARE (the working group that created the Handbook of Disabled Driver Assessment), and is associated with CIECA (The International Commission on Driver Testing) involvement in developing European standards relating to Disabled Driver Assessment. This project will be an essential piece of FoMC’s contribution to this work.

This project also plays an important role in providing the FoMC a direction for its future research/learning on assessment practices influencing the policy agenda, identifying future research priorities and funding opportunities within the subject areas. 

The outputs so far are below:

• The redesign of the data collection method for the audit had been considered as successful; the FoMC will adopt it as their audit tool. Such tool will facilitate the FoMC to start a process towards standardisation on use of cognitive assessment tools across all Mobility Centres (i.e 17 centres).
• The preliminary findings were disseminated to the members of the FoMC at AGM in Jun 2015. 
• An executive summary which highlights the key findings is being complied. This would facilitate the FoMC to discuss with stakeholders involved regarding putting in a bid for the next stage of the research (e.g. exploring future funding from organisations such as Motability 10th Anniversary Trust, Department for Transport).
• A detailed report with recommendations is also in progress. It will be available to the Committee of the FoMC so that it facilitates the FoMC to continue working towards standardisation of the use of cognitive assessment tools across all Mobility Centres.