Dementia care at meal times in acute hospitals – Naomi Gallant

Almost a year on from my last post here and I’ve done a lot of work on my developing my research proposal – reading, learning, literature reviewing – but sadly not a lot has changed for people with dementia in acute hospitals. My desire to improve the quality of care, especially at meal times has certainly grown.

Love thy neighbour – why friends may be the answer to staying well.

Professor Anne Rogers is Professor of Health Systems Implementation in the Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Southampton and Research Director of the NIHR CLAHRC Wessex

Professor Anne Rogers explains how weaker social ties play a role in helping people manage a long term illness.

With ever more attention on the NHS and how many nurses and doctors are needed to give people the best care, one part of the health equation is going unnoticed – What attention is being paid to the role of the patient and their extended network of relationships? In early 70s West Coast America a piece of research by Anselm Strauss and colleagues examined a set of questions on ‘self-care’.

Dr Chris Kipps – Dementia. Younger people, brain scans and how we are trying to understand the bigger picture

So it’s been a few months since the last update on our work, so where are we now?

Well our Younger Onset Dementia Assessment project is now starting to interview patients, carers and clinicians about their experiences of care in younger onset dementia. This will help define our assessment toolkit for testing and implementation in a wider group of people with younger onset dementia. An important part of this study will be to improve the recording of quality of life (QoL) in people with younger dementia, and helping better understand what factors influence QoL in this particular group of patients and their carers.

Why we need to deal with the realities of Dementia in our hospitals – Dr Jackie Bridges Associate Professor, Older People’s and Dementia Care

Dr Jackie Bridges – Associate Professor, Older People’s and Dementia Care, Faculty of Heath Sciences at the University of Southampton

When people with dementia get admitted to hospital, their need for fundamental care can be high. Everyone coming in to hospital wants to be treated with respect and dignity by health care workers who have the time, resources and training needed to keep them safe and well cared for.  But having dementia can put people at higher risk of not having these needs met.

I want to be alone… single rooms and fundamental care – Professor Peter Griffiths, University of Southampton

Last month saw the publication by the NIHR of the final report on our study evaluating England’s first 100% single room hospital at Pembury, part of the Maidstone and Tunbridge wells trust, which opened in 2011 (1).

Where do people want to draw the line? Making shared decisions about treatment. Professor Alison Richardson

Professor Alison Richardson is Clinical Professor of Cancer Nursing and End of Life Care at the University of Southampton and University Hospital Southampton NHS Foundation Trust

Many patients whose condition becomes worse during their stay in hospital face uncertainty about the likelihood of recovery. For patients, families and healthcare professionals deciding on the best thing to do can be hard.

Involving patients and the public in research: Reflecting back and looking ahead

By Claire Ballinger and Mark Stafford-Watson – Chairs, Wessex Inclusion in Service Design and Delivery (WISeRD) group

It’s the end of our first year in CLAHRC Wessex, we have been thinking about our progress in involving patients and the public in our work (or PPI as it’s called), and reviewing where our focus should be for the coming year.  We have settled on five strategic aims:

• Develop our capacity for patient and public involvement (PPI) in research and implementation programmes
• Promote our CLAHRC Wessex activities to the wider public (public engagement)
• Evolve and measure ways to include patients and the public to identify research priorities
• Develop a group of patient and public researchers
• Measure the impact of patient and public involvement within CLAHRC Wessex

Appetising research – How we’re Introducing Volunteer Mealtime Assistants for older inpatients across University Hospital Southampton

Dr Helen Roberts is Associate Professor in Geriatric Medicine and Theme 2 lead for Improving Routine Care for Ageing and Dementia for NIHR CLAHRC Wessex

Poor nutrition in hospital inpatients is a problem that is becoming increasingly recognised both in the UK and worldwide, and requires a multifaceted approach, including protected meal times, red trays and protein and energy supplementation as required. One factor that particularly affects older inpatients is the amount of assistance they receive at mealtimes. Time-pressured nursing staff may not have the time they need to help patients with their meals.