In November 2024, we welcomed Dr Michelle Heward (Bournemouth University) and Dr Patrick Stark (Queen’s University Belfast) to speak at our autumn symposium on Technology in Care Homes. Over 100 people attended the symposium, highlighting what an important and timely issue this is for those who support care home residents. Technology for supporting interactions with…

As a Community Research Nurse, I’m passionate about making research accessible outside of formal NHS settings, making it easier and more convenient to take part. My background is in District Nursing so I also know how much people value getting care in their own homes and the extra insights you can gain when they feel…

Mealtimes are a fundamental part of life Spend a moment thinking about some of the major events in your life, or those close to you – maybe a wedding, a big birthday, retirement, a baby’s christening. Almost certainly, these events will have been celebrated by eating, or drinking, or probably both. And now imagine if…

Combining roles: being a health & social care professional and a researcher As a registered health and social care professional and postdoctoral researcher I have often combined providing care to care home residents while also conducting research on this care. Much of this research role has involved evaluating the implementation of art-based interventions within care…

In this blog post, we would like to introduce our NIHR (National Institute for Health and Care Research) funded study: CHAPPI. CHAPPI stands for Care Homes and Activity Providers for Public Involvement in Research. In this project, we want to understand how care home Activity Providers (also known as activity organisers, well-being coordinators, recreational officers,…

Recent attention has focused on developing social care research and encouraging more social care staff to do research. This has prompted me to set out my journey from care assistant to researcher. I currently work at the University of East Anglia (UEA) as a Research Fellow, but my employment journey started somewhere very different. After…

Why is dehydration a concern? Low-intake dehydration, which is caused by people not drinking enough, has been linked with lots of health problems, including headaches, falls, dizziness, kidney problems, memory problems, pressure sores and diabetes. Low-intake dehydration increases someone’s risk of going into hospital, and if someone is dehydrated on admission to hospital, they are…