Older People's Health

Overview

This programme of research is led jointly by Professor Claire Goodman and Dr Angela Dickinson and focuses on the care of older people with long-term and complex conditions.

In England, about 30% of the population is living with such conditions, and they are estimated to account for 70% of the total health and social care spend (Department of Health, 2010). 

The development of care for older people with complex needs living in the community is predicated on the assumption that increasing levels of organisational and professional collaboration will optimise service delivery for this group.

For practitioners, researchers and those responsible for buying or commissioning services it is important to understand the older person’s experience of being a recipient of health and social care and the effectiveness of different models of service delivery.

Our work falls into four areas:

• Care Home research: The focus of these multi centre studies is on how the NHS and primary care services in particular work with and support the care of the oldest old in care homes. This includes studies  on  the processes and service delivery models that support integrated working between the NHS and care home providers, intervention studies around continence and end of life  and an evaluation of the recently established ENRICH (Enabling Research in Care Homes) network.
• Dementia Research A series of dementia specific studies that focus on living with dementia and other co-morbid health conditions and supporting people with dementia and their carers living at home.
• Evaluation of service delivery for community dwelling older people with complex needs and initiatives that support older people as well as the related issue of workforce development. This has included evaluations of different models of interprofessional working across health and social care for community dwelling older people with complex needs, nurse led case management, evaluation  and the establishment of communities of practice to improve dementia care across multiple health and care settings.
• Health promotion for older people This ranges from testing the feasibility of GP practice led health and social care surveys with practice populations that provide personalized feedback and follow to a series of studies to improve meal times and nutrition of older people in acute wards and work on falls prevention in  inpatient mental health settings.