NHS seeks care home stories from nurses and patients to inform practice

31 January, 2012

The NHS Institute for Innovation and Improvement have announced that it is looking for experiences and stories from nursing staff and the public about changes, improvements and innovative new ways of working within care homes which will inform a new programme of work it is undertaking.

The care home sector is large with over 400,000 residents in approximately 18,500 homes and a similar number of staff.

Most care home residents have multiple health and social care needs. In particular, recent research from the Alzheimer’s Society has estimated that two thirds of residents suffer from dementia. In addition, residents are significantly more dependent than 10 years ago according to research by the Commission for Social Care Inspection.

Care homes remain an important place of care for a significant number of very frail older people, with 21% of the UK population aged over 65 dying in care homes new research shows.

Given the complex nature of delivering effective care to vulnerable people, the NHS Institute have requested experiences and stories on what work has already been done and is currently happening to improve care homes.

To submit your ideas and stories visit institute.nhs.uk/carehomes

Liz Ward and Sophie Cowley are Programme Leads for the Care Homes Programme, NHS Institute for Innovation and Improvement.