SPARRA History
SPARRA was first developed in 2006, within a policy context of a required shift from a healthcare system geared towards hospital-based treatment to a system founded on a preventative, anticipatory approach to the management of long-term conditions - see the National Framework for Service Change in the NHS in Scotland (Kerr Report) and the Ministerial response, Delivering for Health 
. It was largely based on the PARR model developed by the Kings Fund and used in England and Wales.
The initial SPARRA implementation (Classic SPARRA [442kb]) was restricted to patients aged 65 or more. In 2008, the SPARRA algorithm was extended to cover all age groups (SPARRA All Ages [242kb]) in order to meet the commitments made in Better Health, Better Care . Also in 2008, a mental health version of SPARRA ( SPARRA MH 
[119kb]) was developed, applying a similar approach to patients at risk of psychiatric hospital admission.
In 2009, the Scottish Government’s ‘Improving the Health and Wellbeing of People with Long Term Conditions in Scotland: A National Action Plan’ committed ISD to expand the cohort for whom a risk score can be estimated beyond those with a recent hospital admission. In order to meet this objective, ISD developed SPARRA Version 3 which went live in January 2012. Please see the SPARRA Version 3 web page for further details.
