Sue Fortescue was an Information Technology manager in Brussels for over 20 years before retiring to the UK. Her father had vascular dementia, and her mother had Huntington’s Disease and the dementia associated with it. Both have now passed away. In retirement Sue joined the Alzheimer’s Society Research Network and now plays an active role in reviewing research proposals and monitoring research projects.

Melanie Lovatt provides an insight into the importance of material things through her exploration of how interactions with objects can shape the everyday lives of those living in care homes.

Integrated Care Systems (ICS) in England and the recognition of the role of social care as an essential part of care provision for older people underline the need to develop reciprocal systems of working between the NHS and care homes. There is, however, no agreed framework in England for collating, sharing and interpreting data collected by the organisations involved in supporting care homes.

Fawn’s PhD study explores hospital transfers from care homes. She has recently been redeployed to work in a care home due to the COVID-19 pandemic and was keen to share her experience.

A recent study, funded by the British Academy/Leverhulme Trust, explored older adults’ experiences of using technology (including social media) to connect with others.

The findings highlighted the importance of technology and social media for social relationships, specifically visual communication tools. Although this study was carried out before the onset of COVID-19, and with older adults living independently, there are some translatable outcomes for the adoption of technology for social connection in care homes.

Nisha joined Aston University in September 2016, having spent the previous four years as a Clinical Audiologist, and developing research skills within a medical college.

I have a strong passion for the understanding and enhancement of patient outcomes, from service provision to long term clinical management. This is reflected in my research interests to design interventions that will have direct benefit to patients with concurrent health conditions such as hearing loss and cognitive decline.

I am currently undertaking a part-time PhD to investigate the impact of hearing loss and dementia on social isolation in older adults. In addition, I maintain my clinical status by seeing patients part-time for adult aural rehabilitation and tinnitus management.

In this blog I share my thoughts on how Covid-19 has impacted my research project and the importance of keeping in touch with my care home collaborators at this time.

I am passionate about conducting applied research that seeks to improve the experiences of those who live and work in care homes.

In this blog I introduce Material Citizenship (a conceptual framework developed from my PhD) as a way of providing care that supports residents to live an active and meaningful life during social distancing and beyond.

We are passionate about the natural environment and believe that nature is good for the health and wellbeing of older people living in care homes.  For over 20 years, Sensory Trust has been developing a range of projects promoting sensory approaches to the natural environment in the belief that it brings social, health and wellbeing benefits.  Four years ago, we collaborated on a project to synthesise qualitative evidence (words) on how older people (including those with dementia) describe their sensory engagement with the outside world.

The Dementia Care Mapping (DCM™) Enhancing Person-centred care in Care Homes (EPIC) clinical trial aimed to understand whether DCM™ reduced behaviours that are often associated with agitation for people living with dementia in care homes.