Universal Needs Based Resource Assessment (UNBRA) an objective approach to evaluate resources needed to support people with intellectual disability in an inpatient setting

Purpose There are no existing tools to capture resources needed to support people with intellectual disability in an inpatient setting on an individual patient basis. The purpose of this paper is to describe the development of a new tool called Universal Needs Based Resource Assessment (UNBRA). Design/methodology/approach Using the Delphi method, focus groups were used to generate factors determining resource use. From these, themes were identified, a scoring system was created and the UNBRA tool was developed. This was piloted in two NHS inpatient units and modified following feedback. Findings The UNBRA tool holistically assesses resource requirements of an individual with intellectual disability supported in an inpatient setting. It considers ten factors grouped into the six themes of staffing, indirect work, clinical/ multi-disciplinary work, incidents, carer link activity and discharge process. UNBRA scores allow intra- and interpersonal comparison as well as comparison between units and can support resource allocation and operational decision-making. Originality/value To the best of the authors’ knowledge, there is no suitable existing tool to capture individual resource requirements of patients in intellectual inpatient settings. The development of the UNBRA tool fills this gap.