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…
Within five minutes of attending Nightingale Hammerson’s fourth ‘Research Forum’ event, I already knew that I wanted to come back next year. This innovative one-day event was packed full of inspiring presentations from knowledgeable experts, including Gill Livingston (Professor of Psychiatry of Older People) presenting findings from her Lancet review on preventing dementia; Deborah Sturdy (Chief…
Research, evidenced based practice and maintaining continuous professional development is essential for Allied Health Professionals working in care homes. Whilst there are clear benefits which support our clinical practice and outcomes with the people we work with, it can also be daunting for clinicians who are not immersed in the world of research full-time. I…
Despite the many known challenges that vulnerable older people can face when living in their own homes, moving into long-term residential care is often considered to be a last resort, and care homes are certainly not seen as places where older people are expected to flourish. At My Home Life England (part of City St…
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…
Co-Authors: Leon Geffen and Gabby Kelly. Until recently, there were relatively few long-term care facilities (LTCFs) in low and middle-income countries. But since the turn of the century, there has been a rapid increase and South Africa contained at least 1,150 LTCFs at the start of the pandemic (Mahomedy, 2021). With colleagues from Mexico and…
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,…
This blog post has been five years in the making. I first attempted to write about my experiences of supporting my nan, Ann, back in 2018. At the time, she had recently fallen and fractured her hip. And, although she had undergone surgery, she was struggling to regain the ability to walk. Prior to her…
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…
There are no shortages of challenges in the care home sector just now, with memories of the pandemic impact fresh and often painful, in addition to staffing issues and financial pressures. However, this comes with great opportunities for taking part in care homes research, as there is now more interest in the sector than ever…
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…
