School of Sociology and Social Policy

Research Interests

My research interests lie in the area of health and social care policy, evaluation methodology and evidence-based policy. I am interested in exploring the relationship between policy and practice, the role of front-line practitioners in programme implementation, and focus on the experiences of users and caregivers. More specifically, my interests are:

• Evaluation of multidisciplinary heath and social programmes in acute care.
• Evaluation theory and methodology.
• Development of the realist evaluation strategy in health care.
• Performance indicators and financial incentives in acute care.
• Delayed discharges (“bed-blocking”) in acute care.

Teaching

I have previously taught a range of social policy tutorials at undergraduate and postgraduate level.

PhD Supervision

Keen to supervise potential students with an interest in the following areas:

• Evaluation of health and social programmes and policies.
• Performance indicators and financial incentives in health and social care.

Key Publications

Manzano-Santaella, A. (2011) ‘A Realistic Evaluation of Fines for Hospital Discharges: Incorporating the History of Programme Evaluations in the Analysis’. Evaluation: The International Journal of Theory, Research & Practice, 17(1): 1-16 doi:10.1177/1356389010389913

Manzano-Santaella, A; Goode, B. (2011) ‘Delayed Discharges in Mental Health Beds’. British Journal of Healthcare Management, 17(3): 113-119

Manzano-Santaella, A (2010). ‘Disentangling the impact of multiple innovations to reduce delayed hospital discharges’. Journal of Health Service Research and Policy, 15(1): 41-46

Manzano-Santaella, A. (2010) ‘From “bed-blocking” to delayed discharges. Precursors and interpretations of a contested concept’. Health Services Management Research Journal, 23: 121-127 doi:10.1258/hsmr.2009.009026

Manzano-Santaella, A. (2009) ‘Payment by results and delayed discharges’. British Journal of Healthcare Management, 15(9): 440-442