Providing formerly homeless people with the support that they need

Posted on February 4, 2016 by

Maureen Crane, Louise Joly and Jill Manthorpe introduce the final report of the Rebuilding Lives study, published today. (678 words)

Homeless people clearly need homes but in order to keep them and to rebuild their lives they also need access to resettlement programmes that offer long-term support. A major new study by Unit researchers provides detailed evidence of what works in helping formerly homeless people to sustain a tenancy and avoid further homelessness.

We maintained contact with a group of 297 homeless people over five years after they were rehoused. We were fortunate enough to gain funding from the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) School for Social Care Research to undertake this ground-breaking study. In the Rebuilding Lives study we investigated their experiences, the ‘ups and downs’ of settling down and building a more settled life. It is the largest and only UK study of its kind. One major finding is that just giving someone who has been homeless a tenancy is not the sole solution to homelessness, as many formerly homeless people are still vulnerable during the first few years after being rehoused. Many experience problems living independently, and require ongoing support from housing, health and social care services – help many do not receive. 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 →

Supporting parents with learning disabilities – passing on practice experiences

Posted on June 29, 2015 by

Dr Martin Stevens is Senior Research Fellow at the Social Care Workforce Research Unit. (1,037 words)

There is increasing interest in supporting parents with learning disabilities, as evidenced by the good turnout at the Social Care Workforce Research Unit’s most recent practice seminar on 24 June. Our seminar series focusing on learning disabilities covers a wide range of topics, but this one on parents with learning disabilities reflected the relevance of the subject to practitioners working in both adult and children’s services. Sandra Baum, the seminar presenter, estimated that most (two-thirds) child and family social workers have a parent with learning disabilities on their case loads. Dr Baum is head of learning disabilities psychological services and associate clinical director (LD) at Oxleas NHS Foundation Trust.

In addition to co-authoring many articles and key guidance books, Sandra (pictured right) has substantial practice experience. Her work involves assessments, which include IQ tests alongside functional assessment of Daily Living Skills. She acknowledged that there is a serious question about the usefulness of IQ tests in assessing parents’ suitability. If the IQ score is over 55 (as it often would be), Continue reading →

Men? Have your circumstances changed?

Posted on June 25, 2015 by

Dr Valerie Lipman is Honorary Post-Doctoral Research Fellow at the Social Care Workforce Research Unit. (553 words)

We don’t see much about the lives of older men in the field of social care. The focus tends to be on older women, partly because women’s life expectancy is longer and perhaps, because in the care field, women are more visible in the traditional care settings, such as day centres and care homes. ‘Have your circumstances changed?’, a triptych of duets between an ageing man and a boy of about 10-12 years of age, stages the daily routine of a single older man.

The three short pieces, about 15 minutes each, are set in sequence in a kitchen, living room and bathroom, showing a different older man managing life on his own. The performance takes place in the windows of a former furniture shop in a former shopping mall in Islington, north London. There’s no dialogue but just a series of noises of daily living. In the kitchen the man accidentally tips his rice crispies all over the floor, the sink gurgles, he thumps his knife into an onion, and butter splutters in a frying pan on the cooker all against the background of Radio 2. In the living room the TV blares out quiz shows, football and the Generation Game. And in the bathroom we hear the toilet flush, medicines fall out of the cabinet and imagine the scraping of shaving and the sizzing of false teeth in the glass. Continue reading →

Health & Social Care Workforce:

Welcome to the blog of the NIHR Policy Research Unit in Health and Social Care Workforce at King's College London