Responding to a need for high quality research to better serve an ageing population.

Background

An ageing population is associated with a corresponding rise in the number of people requiring long-term care, with those entering long-term care having increasingly severe and complex healthcare needs. Currently, there is little evidence base for much of the care provided in care homes, for example, and there have been calls for the development of such a structured approach.

We are therefore committed to developing interventions and carrying out clinical trials to inform public health decisions in this under-represented and ever growing population.

Care homes

We conducted a study to identify the research priorities in care homes. This is the first study to establish the research priorities for older people requiring long term care in the UK. After ranking, the top 15 research priorities included questions on person-centred care, dignity, staffing levels, sensory impairment, and end of life care, as well as questions around public and media perception.

Informing public health research decisions

Setting research priorities assists researchers and policymakers to effectively target research that has the greatest potential public health benefit. Identifying priorities is increasingly being seen as an essential part of the research cycle, with a number of funders indicating that they wish to incorporate the findings of priority setting work into their commissioning processes.

Case studies

Theme leads