A citizen-sensitive and holistic healthcare: A model for healthcare services tailored to citizens in socially vulnerable situations

Copenhagen Centre for Health Research in the Humanities, University of Copenhagen

Copenhagen Centre for Health Research in the Humanities (CoRe) at the University of Copenhagen studies the cultural and historical aspects of health-related issues. The CoRe group consists of interdisciplinary researchers who work on a variety of projects that focus on lifestyle and interventions, ageing, and the life course, as well as food, diet, and eating.

The mission of the Centre is to conduct high-quality health research in the humanities, which explores the cultural, analytical, and historical aspects of health issues. We apply our knowledge in society by engaging with relevant people and organizations. In this manner, we develop knowledge and disseminate findings and tools that contribute to solving some of the major societal challenges that are related to health and disease.

Flex Clinic, Bispebjerg Hospital, Capital Region of Denmark

The Flex Clinic at Bispebjerg Hospital includes the Flex Outpatient Clinic (established in 2022) and Flex General Practice (2023). The team consists of social nurses, doctors, podiatrist, and a cross-sector coordinator.

Staff conduct hospital-wide consultations, provide outpatient follow-ups, and collaborate with hospital departments and municipal services. The clinic improves healthcare access and care transitions for socially vulnerable patients, including those with substance abuse, homelessness, and complex health challenges.

Capital Region Pharmacy

Denmark’s largest hospital pharmacy, the Capital Region Pharmacy, produces and supplies medicines to regional hospitals, institutions, and the healthcare systems in Greenland and the Faroe Islands. With nearly 800 employees, it spans five areas: Production, Quality, Logistics, Clinical Pharmacy, and Administration.

The Clinical Pharmacy division collaborates with doctors and nurses, providing medication management and patient care guidance. Pharmacists conduct medication reviews for hospitalized patients and lead research in clinical pharmacy and pharmacology.

Allongside with the projectgroup and the PI’s current project has a scientific advisory board and a practice monitoring group.
The purpose of the international scientific advisory board (SAB) is to enhance the quality of scientific, educational and development activities, output and results by asking questions, giving critique and advice, and inspire the management group as well as the researchers.

In addition, the SAB can be asked to give advice to all stages of the project’s conduction and to give recommendations to strengthen or enhance collaborations and/or methodological approaches in and across the disciplines and between researchers and healthcare professionals. Members of the SAB:

Morten Hulvej Rod (CEO SIF), Jon Dag Rasmussen (Anthropologisk, Postdoc, DPU), Merete Labriola (Professor in rural health challenge, KU) og Mikkel Nørreslet (Proprietor Pharmacist, Marselisborg)

Members of the SAB are expected to attend 2 meetings per year either in person or online and provide input and advice for progress, scientific results, the annual reports and the mid-term evaluation report. The second meeting every year will be conjointly with the ‘Practice monitoring group’.

The practice monitoring group engages representatives from relevant partners across professions, organizations, and sectors to advise the project team throughout the model’s development and support the dissemination of its findings.

It supplements the project group by strengthening citizen engagement, refining scalable model elements, improving data collection methods, fostering cross-sectoral collaborations, ensuring project progress and evaluation, supporting milestone achievement, and enhancing communication with policy stakeholders.

The practice monitoring group reporting to the project group consists of the members from following organisations:

• Representative from the Psychiatry Foundation (Psykiatri Fonden)
• Representative from Mændenes Hjem
• Representative from WeShelter
• Representative from Frederiksberg Municipality
• Representative from Copenhagen Municipality
• Representative from the Council for Socially Vulnerable (Rådet for Socialt Udsatte)

To ensure that the model, which is the core of the project, is citizen-sensitive, we will work throughout the entire process with principles of citizen involvement. The project group is committed to adhering to these principles across all elements of the project.

Ensuring the project’s progress is a high priority. Therefore, collaboration agreements have been established between organizations in the project management, and quarterly meetings are held with the project group and steering committee, where ongoing progress is evaluated. Furthermore, progression in the research process will be supported throughout the project period by regularly holding research workshops focused on fundamental scientific questions and international research.

Progress and any necessary adjustments will also be evaluated with the Scientific Advisory Board (SAB) and the project group as needed.

From the start of the project, a number of milestones related to the two sub-projects have been defined and are monitored via a timeline.

The dissemination related to this project is structured around three main pillars:

1. Publishing results in peer-reviewed scientific journals
2. Communicating about the project, its process, and findings to the general public, the target group, and stakeholders related to the target group
3. Publishing two PhD dissertations