Building the case for housing as supporting a good old age

Posted on May 31, 2016 by

The authors of Living well in old age. The value of UK housing interventions in supporting mental health and wellbeing in later life introduce the report, which is published today.

Housing in later life is more than just a roof or a matter of getting upstairs. Housing-related services can help many people by supporting their mental and physical wellbeing in later life. A newly published review of UK housing interventions focuses on their contribution to mental health in particular since this area of wellbeing often gets overlooked. Housing care and support can help people reduce the risks of depression or other problems getting worse and can make a difference in the lives of people with severe disabilities.

The review was undertaken by a research team at the Social Care Workforce Research Unit at King’s College London. It was commissioned by HACT on behalf of a group of social housing providers and developmental bodies who are keen to place on record the many links between housing, care and health services practice (*). Continue reading →

Social care, the market and the prospects for a National Care Service

Posted on March 17, 2016 by

John Woolham is Senior Research Fellow at the Social Care Workforce Research Unit. (524 words)

Professor Guy Daly, Executive Dean of the Health and Life Sciences Faculty at Coventry University, Bleddyn Davies, Emeritus Professor of Social Policy at the Personal Social Services Research Unit and I spoke at a Research in Specialist and Elderly Care (RESEC) seminar on 10 March at the House of Lords. RESEC is a national charity whose principal aim is to promote research and teaching in social care by identifying priorities for funding and teaching and securing funds to invest in these priorities. It provides finance for agreed projects and ensures findings and outcomes are publically disseminated. Continue reading →

What are the prospects for using telecare for older people?

Posted on March 17, 2016 by

John Woolham is Senior Research Fellow at the Social Care Workforce Research Unit. (500 words)

On 9 March, I spoke in a webinar lecture for Oxford Academic Health Science Network. This network brings together universities, industry and the NHS throughout the Thames Valley region to improve health and prosperity in our region through rapid clinical innovation adoption. One strand of this network is devoted to a dementia clinical network and I was invited to speak by Dr Rupert McShane, a Consultant Old Age Psychiatrist at Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust, who leads this network. Continue reading →

Ageing and India

Posted on March 2, 2016 by

Valerie Lipman is an honorary Postdoc Research Fellow at the Social Care Workforce Research Unit, the Policy Institute at King’s. (926 words)

Just as the British TV-watching public was being captivated by the start of a three-part reality-style programme, ‘The Real Marigold Hotel’, showing eight familiar-faced senior citizens set up home in Jaipur north India, I was on my way to West Bengal in east India to take part in a gerontology conference. While the show raised some big questions about realistic retirement choices, including enjoying India’s many splendours, India is coming to terms with its own vast and growing population of older citizens. Continue reading →

From our annual joint conference: End of Life Care

Posted on February 19, 2016 by

The Annual Joint Conference of the Social Care Workforce Research Unit and Making Research Count at King’s College London and Age UK London, with support from the British Society of Gerontology was held on 11 February 2016 at King’s College London. Joan Rapaport reports. (1,633 words)

By way of introduction, Professor Jill Manthorpe, Director, Social Care Workforce Research Unit, explained that the focus of the conference was on good practice in the day-to-day delivery of palliative and end of life care. The Unit’s Longitudinal Care Work Study had highlighted the importance of collaborative working between health and social care agencies and ensuring staff were prepared and supported when working with people in the last stages of life. In spite of all the bad news about social care being ‘in crisis’ and of poor quality, research has shown that four out of five people describe positive experiences: ‘We can work on the one in five’. Continue reading →

Poorer dementia patients in England less likely to be prescribed drugs

Posted on November 19, 2015 by

Dr Claudia Cooper is Reader in Old Age Psychiatry at University College London. (560 words)

Dementia patients from more affluent areas in England are 27% more likely to be prescribed anti-dementia drugs than patients from poorer areas, finds a new UCL study of 77,045 dementia patients across the UK. This inequality was not seen in Scotland, Northern Ireland or Wales.

The new research, published in Age and Ageing, also found that compared to English practices, anti-dementia drugs were prescribed more often in Northern Ireland and Scotland but less often in Wales. Continue reading →

Dementia and ethnicity deepen housing needs

Posted on November 8, 2015 by

The increasing numbers of older people with dementia and older people from minority ethnic groups in the UK present new challenges for many housing services according to Gearing Up: Housing, Ethnicity and Dementia, a report just published by Age UK. Valerie Lipman and Jill Manthorpe from the Social Care Workforce Research Unit at the Policy Institute at King’s College London examined the ways in which Housing Associations in England and Scotland are preparing themselves for tenants who develop dementia, especially those who are from minority ethnic groups. Continue reading →

What’s the evidence behind the Dementia ‘I’ statements?

Posted on October 2, 2015 by

Dr Linda Birt,Senior Research Associate at the School of Health Sciences, University of East Anglia, discusses the Dementia ‘I’ statements and the PRIDE programme. (439 words)

I was diagnosed in a timely way
I know what I can do to help myself and who else can help me
Those around me are well supported and in good health
I get the treatment and support, which are best for my dementia, and my life
I feel included as part of society
I understand so I make good decisions and provide for future decision making
I am treated with dignity and respect
I am confident my end of life wishes will be respected. I can expect a good death
I know how to participate in research

(Abbreviated from outcomes derived from the work of the Dementia Action Alliance)

The ‘I’ statements in dementia are having an impact, being discussed by the Prime Minister and Professor Alistair Burns. These statements indicate what a good experience of living with dementia should look like. Continue reading →

Let’s Talk – Piloting an educational drama in a care home

Posted on August 11, 2015 by

Caroline Norrie (left) and Michelle Cornes are, respectively, Research Fellow and Senior Research Fellow at the Social Care Workforce Research Unit. (666 words)

A Transformative Research Fund grant has been awarded to researchers from the Social Care Workforce Research Unit (SCWRU) at King’s College London to pilot an educational drama initiative in a care home in Cumbria. Care home staff, multi-agency colleagues (such as GPs and physiotherapists) and residents will hopefully volunteer to take part in a drama called Let’s Talk, which is designed to stimulate discussion about working relationships. As well as piloting the drama, three interprofessional, reflective ‘Community of Practice’ (CoP) meetings will be held which will act as a forum to discuss care home practices and ideas for change. Continue reading →

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Category Archives: Older people