Presentation 1: Mistreatment and inequalities of racialised care home staff: Implications on care workers and residents’ outcomes

Professor Shereen Hussein, Professor of Health and Social Care Policy, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine

Shereen is a Professor of Health and Social Care Policy at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, UK. She is a medical demographer by training and has developed an established multi-disciplinary research portfolio focusing on ageing and care. Shereen’s research supports policymakers in the UK and internationally to formulate and implement tailored ageing policies and plans. Shereen has a particular interest in the social care workforce, global ageing, health equity and migration and has recently established the Middle East and North Africa Research on Ageing Healthy Network to mobilise ageing research and practice development in the region (www.menarah.org).

Shereen will be talking about the experience of mistreatment and inequalities among racialised care staff working in care homes with a special focus on the experience during the COVID19 pandemic in the UK. She will draw on findings from several ongoing studies focusing on the impact of COVID19 on the care workforce, particularly those who belong to a minority ethnic group and/or migrants; the implementations of social distancing and infection controls in care homes and its impact on residents and staff and understanding the components of work-related quality of life among care workers. She will present evidence on the experience of care home staff analysed with an inequality lens and discuss observed effects on care workers’ and care home residents’ wellbeing. She will then discuss potential implications on care policy and practice when planning for the recovery from the effects of the pandemic.

Presentation 2: Perspectives on the experiences of people with a learning disability and dementia in care homes.

Dr Karen Watchman, Senior Lecturer in Health Sciences Stirling at the University of Stirling

Karen has experience of leading staff and research teams, managing projects and supporting development at Higher Education Institutions and third sector/NGO organisations. Her academic background is in social science, with a practice background in social care where she spent many years as Chief Executive of Down’s Syndrome Scotland. Karen is an advocate of collaboration across all disciplines in dementia research with an emphasis on making research findings accessible. With a focus on post-diagnosis dementia support, learning disability and equality issues, she seeks diverse views of participants less often included in research. Karen has extensive experience of writing for different audiences and editing dementia-related content for publication, both online and in print. Knowledge translation and production of accessible information, such as Jenny’s Diary see this link and Supporting Derek see this link ensure dissemination of research findings into practice both nationally and internationally, with Jenny’s Diary translated into six languages.

Karen will be looking from different perspectives at the experiences of people with a learning disability and dementia in care homes. First, those of staff who often lack confidence in proving support to this population yet are seeing an increasing number of people moved to a care home especially at end of life. Second, from those of people with a learning disability who took part in a recent photovoice study and reported that friends with dementia ‘disappear’ after a move to a care home. See this link for an article about the project.

Presentation 3: Supporting care homes to improve their support for LGBT+ older people

Professor Trish Hafford-Letchfield, Head of School, School of Social Work and Social Policy, University of Strathclyde

Trish is Professor of Social Care at the University of Strathclyde. She is a qualified nurse and social worker with over 18 years in statutory social work. Trish’s research interests are in the care experiences of older people from marginalised communities. She has over 100 publications and her two most recent books are Desexualisation in Later Life: The limits of sex and intimacy, Policy Press with Paul Simpson and Paul Reynolds and Rethinking Feminist Theories for Social Work Practice with Christine Cocker with Palgrave.

Trish will be talking about her recent project ‘The Care Home Challenge: supporting care homes to improve their support for LGBT+ older people through community collaboration’. There have been substantial achievements in legislative and human rights for Lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans (LGBT+) older people and their visibility in health and social care has equally increased. There are documented concerns about the accessibility, inclusiveness and safety of care services for LGBT+ people, particularly in institutionalised care. This requires systemic change not easy to operationalise. This presentation shares the experiences of this action-research initiative where six care homes belonging to a national care provider, collaborated to assess and develop their services with the support of local LGBT ‘Community Advisors’ and academic partners. Framed within Rogers’ (2003) change management framework and combined with a participatory leadership approach, a programme of intervention was implemented comprising structured activities around seven key areas thought to promote LGBT inclusion. Trish will share the findings of the formal evaluation and the main challenges and opportunities that emerged. This presentation suggests that a programme approach for achieving step change and tangible outcomes can be enhanced with the engagement and participation of the LGBT+ community itself. (Project partners; Paul Willis, Kathy Almack and Paul Simpson).”