# Hospice trials ‘inclusive & ethical’ data gathering tool ahead of wider rollout

- Link: https://fundraising.co.uk/2024/05/24/hospice-trials-inclusive-ethical-data-gathering-tool-ahead-of-wider-rollout/
- Published: 2024-05-24T09:03:00+01:00
- Author: Melanie May

**The LOROS Hospice is trialling an ‘inclusive and ethical’ data gathering tool 
developed by University of Leicester researchers to gain service user feedback, 
ahead of planned rollout to other hospices.**

[LOROS](https://loros.co.uk/) provides free care and support to over 2,500 terminally
ill residents a year in Leicester, Leicestershire, and Rutland, their family and
carers, through multidisciplinary services. To help them better understand the patient
experience, the [University of Leicester](https://le.ac.uk/) researchers partnered
with LOROS to co-create LeicSurvey^(TM): a digital data gathering tool that aims
to be an exemplar for ethical and inclusive data gathering to help charities, especially
hospices, quantify the impact of their services.

LeicSurvey combines a simple user interface with tools for collating and presenting
complex data, including changes in user engagement and satisfaction over time. It
is described as taking a ‘dignity by design’ approach by putting the user in control
of the surveying. Visual design elements can be optimised to make survey taking 
easier for users, questions are simplified to help save time, design can be diversified
for inclusivity, and data gathering is completely anonymised.

## Advertisement

Jo Polkey, Director of Patient Services & Clinical Quality at LOROS, said:

> “LOROS is delighted to be partnering with the University of Leicester team. Our
> interdisciplinary collaboration with academics and students outside of clinical
> care has been insightful and mutually beneficial. We have been quite impressed
> by our partners’ commitment to ensuring the survey meets our needs and the highest
> security and regulatory compliance.”

The software is already in use by the University of Leicester [Heritage Hub](https://le.ac.uk/research/natural-heritage/heritage-hub)
and will soon be rolled out at multiple hospices. The team hopes that by enabling
these organisations to collect richer data from their users they will be able to
help decision-makers understand their roles in supporting community cohesion, wellbeing,
and social and economic regeneration.

Veronica Mickleburgh, Clinical Service Development Project Lead at LOROS, said:

> “The LOROS team have very recently implemented LeicSurvey within some clinical
> Services such as in the ward, day therapy and outpatients as part of phase 1. 
> The relevant Heads of services and managers involved in the roll-out within their
> clinical services have been supportive and initiated ways of highlighting the 
> survey to patients and families which fit with their services.
>  
> “During the validation phase, we were impressed by the frictionless nature of 
> the survey and pace of analysis, offering us richer insights instantaneously, 
> with the outcome of saving administration time. Phase 2 will involve embedding
> the digital survey into other services and potentially evaluating hardware to 
> enable easier access to our patients and their families and carers.”

The partnership received seed funding from the Centenary Community Engagement Fund:
a University of Leicester funding mechanism that enables researchers to tackle complex
challenges faced by local communities. This supported two School of Engineering 
graduates Alagu Arunachalam and Sai Kumar Mattireddy who helped in engineering this
survey tool. The team is currently working with hospices across the UK and India
to implement the tool.

 * **[Scottish Government announces £9.4mn for Scotland’s hospices](https://fundraising.co.uk/2026/02/16/scottish-government-announces-9-4mn-for-scotlands-hospices/)**(
   16 February 2026)
 * **[New Communications Manager at Naomi House Children’s Hospice](https://fundraising.co.uk/2006/05/24/new-communications-manager-naomi-house-children039s-hospice/)**(
   24 May 2006)
 * **[Irish Hospice income falls](https://fundraising.co.uk/2015/01/16/irish-hospice-income-falls/)**(
   16 January 2015)