Buprenorphine transdermal system is increasingly prescribed for people with advanced dementia. However, little is known about the potential adverse effects, such as nausea, sedation, or confusion, in people living with moderate to severe dementia and depressive symptoms in care homes.

This gap was addressed by the DEP.PAIN.DEM trial, which was funded by the Research Council of Norway and conducted by the Centre for Elderly and Nursing Home Medicine, University of Bergen.

Did you know that we are in the middle of Dementia Action Week 2018 (21-27 May 2018)? Take steps to stand united with people living with dementia this week.

It is estimated that over half of older people living in care homes have some form of sight loss. Research shows that people with sight loss are at greater risk of social isolation and loneliness than their sighted peers. Admission to residential care has also been found to be correlated with isolation and loneliness in older people. However, evidence to support delivery of good practice in preventing, recognising, and addressing isolation and loneliness for people with sight loss in care homes is limited.

There are currently approximately 400,000 care home residents in the UK. The complexity and challenges of providing healthcare to care home residents are distinctly different from other care contexts, since complex interventions, such as exercise for falls prevention, and quality improvement methods that work in other health institutional settings, might not always be transferable to a care home setting. Thus, the care sector requires data to understand the health requirements of their residents and the services that enable them to live and die well.

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) is currently developing their guidelines on Safeguarding adults in care homes. NICE guidelines are evidence-based recommendations for health and care in England.
You can register your organisation as a stakeholder for the guidelines. To do so visit the NICE website: https://www.nice.org.uk/get-involved/stakeholder-registration

Existing NICE guidelines on topics related to care homes such as ‘Medicines management in care homes’ and ‘Oral health for adults in care homes’ can be found on NICE’s website.

Nearly 100 attendees joined us at Branston Hall Hotel for this year’s Research and Innovation Conference. This year’s conference aimed to encourage people to take their first step into research, and to understand what research can mean to them.

The British Geriatrics Society have two conferences coming up over the Spring.

Frailty and urgent care – Hospital Wide Comprehensive Geriatric Assessment

Loneliness in Older People and it’s Impact on Health

The organisation Action on Hearing Loss have newly released a guide entitled ‚ÄúSupporting older people with hearing loss in care settings‚Äù. The guide is aimed at managers and staff, and was produced to address hearing loss in longer term care settings for older people. The project included working with more than 100 care staff across seven care settings.

The Clinical Research Network for Yorkshire and Humber is sponsoring a tour of a set of short plays called Three, co-written by people living with dementia. The plays are part of the West Yorkshire Playhouse’s Every Third Minute festival – where people with dementia are part of the creative process. Three will tour for two weeks in March to care homes and community centres around Leeds.

Academic Health Science Networks (AHSNs) aim to spread innovation to improve health and generate economic growth; connecting the NHS with academic organisations, local authorities, the third sector and industry.

A summary of projects from the Network with a focus on musculoskeletal, falls, fractures and frailty, has recently been published. These include a number taking place in care home settings: