For the fourth consecutive year, Nightingale Hammerson was delighted to host the highly successful and informative Care Home Research Forum at Hammerson House, Wohl Campus on Wednesday, 13th November 2024. The Forum assembled groups of social care researchers, social care providers, care professionals, students, CQC representatives, care home residents and their relatives.
“Research evidence gathered at this event is indispensable for shaping the future of social care and government policy, in terms of how to best support the older community living in care homes.” Nuno Santos Lopes, Director of Research, Innovation and Community Engagement
The Care Home Research Forum is a unique international event, held in person and via a live feed. Professionals from all corners of the world, including Australia, China, Indonesia, India, South America, Trinidad and Tobago, and several countries in Europe come together to learn about the new advances in UK based care home research. This year researchers and experts presented findings from their studies, followed by an in-depth Q&A session after each presentation.
The conference was hosted by Reach by Nightingale Hammerson, a new initiative to ‘reach out’ to the community to support family members and care givers. Areas discussed included, Translating Research into Practice, Funding for Care Provision, the Effect of Salaries on Quality of Care Provided, Improving Sleep in Dementia, Promoting Continence in Dementia, the Impact of Intergenerational Care for Care Home Residents and many more interesting topics. Professor Gill Livingston also presented the 2024 update to the Lancet Commission on Dementia Prevention.
“The changes I discuss to prevent dementia will improve quality of life. Some people will still develop dementia but will have a longer illness-free life and a shorter time at the end with dementia. This is what most people want – a longer healthy life.” Professor Gill Livingston, Professor of Psychiatry of Older People, UCL
“Staff are crucial to the delivery of social care and it is important that they are appropriately rewarded for this in both their pay and other employment conditions. This study shows that staff pay has an important influence on quality of care. It is part of the increasing level of research that can provide evidence to inform and support all stakeholders involved with the proposed introduction of a fair pay agreement in adult social care.” Dr Stephen Allan, Senior Research Fellow, PSSRU, University of Kent
“Everyone living in a care home deserves a pain-free and peaceful ending when the time comes.
Care homes can work with palliative colleagues to ensure the best support for residents – and to learn from Nightingale Hammerson, a great example of excellent care when life comes to a close.” Dr Ros Taylor MBE, Medical Director, Michael Sobell Hospice
