Digital Adoption by an Organization Supporting Informal Caregivers During COVID-19 Pandemic Showing Impact on Service Use, Organizational Performance, and Carers' Well-Being: Retrospective Population-Based Database Study With Embedded User Survey.

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has catalyzed a move from face-to-face to digital delivery of services by hospitals and primary care. However, little is known about the impact of digital transformation on organizations supporting unpaid caregivers. Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, the value of care provided by such informal caregivers is estimated to be £111 billion (US$ 152.

Integrated Long-Term Care 'Neighbourhoods' to Support Older Populations: Evolving Strategies in Japan and England.

Western countries are currently facing the public health challenge of a rapidly aging population and the associated challenge of providing long-term care services to meet its needs with a reduced working age population. As people age, they will increasingly require both health and social care services to maintain their quality of life and these will need to be integrated to provide cost-effective long-term care. The World Health Organization recommended in 2020 that all countries should have integrated long-term care strategies to better support their older populations.

Reimagining care homes: can the COVID-19 pandemic act as a catalyst for enhancing staff status and education?

During the first wave of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, older people were discharged from hospitals to care homes to release NHS beds. This influx of new residents whose COVID-19 status was largely unknown added to the many challenges already experienced by care homes, with serious consequences including an increased number of deaths among residents. The social care sector has been fragile for several years and the pandemic has brought the challenges experienced by care homes to the forefront, prompting renewed calls for improved funding and reform.

Culture change in care homes: development and facilitation.

This article is the second of a two-part series that explores a programme of culture change in care homes. In this article, the authors describe their independent development and facilitation of a flexible learning programme for care homes, designed to meet a quality improvement request made by a care home company. The two selected care homes' staff conducted a review of their care culture, as a precursor to their creation of a new care philosophy.

Antipsychotic prescribing in care homes before and after launch of a national dementia strategy: an observational study in English institutions over a 4-year period.

Objectives: To assess associations between the launch of the National Dementia Strategy (NDS) and antipsychotic prescribing in long-term residential care (LTC) in England.

Setting And Participants: Retrospective analysis of prescribing patterns in 616 LTC institutions (31 619 residents) following launch of the NDS, using information from electronic medicines management system.

Primary And Secondary Outcome Measures: Antipsychotic prescribing point prevalence (PP) for all residents in a cross section of LTC settings over a 4-year period following NDS launch.

Digital skills training in care homes: achievement.

This article describes digital skills training (DST) for staff and later, residents, as part of a programme of culture change in a large care home with nursing in Glasgow. It presents the successes and challenges arising from DST from the perspectives of the two volunteer information technology (IT) champions (Thomas Sloan and John Thomson), who were also staff members. Using their written reports, questionnaires and subsequent conversations, the IT champions recall the challenges and gains for staff and residents as a result of their initial training.

Implementing digital skills training in care homes: a literature review.

This article is the first of a two-part series that informs and describes digital skills training using a dedicated console computer provided for staff and residents in a care home setting. This was part of a programme of culture change in a large care home with nursing in Glasgow, Scotland. The literature review shows that over the past decade there has been a gradual increase in the use of digital technology by staff and older people in community settings including care homes.

Attitudes towards caring for older people: findings and recommendations for practice.

Aim: To investigate the attitudes of healthcare professionals towards working with older people, including their perception of how other professionals perceived their work in gerontology.

Method: Data were collected using a 20-item Multifactorial Attitudes Questionnaire (MAQ) in the West of Scotland with a five-point Likert scale for responses ranging from strongly agree to strongly disagree. Questionnaires were distributed to hospitals and community settings by post and by hand in 1999 and 2009, and also by email in 2009.

Attitudes towards caring for older people: literature review and methodology.

Care of older people is often referred to as a 'Cinderella' service and is not seen as an attractive career option in health care, but with the global population continuing to age, caring for this group will become increasingly important. This article outlines the literature that formed the basis for two studies investigating the attitudes of healthcare staff towards working with older people, including respondents' perceptions of other healthcare professionals' attitudes toward this important area of work. The Multifactorial Attitudes Questionnaire was designed to examine five major themes identified from the literature: ageism; learning environment; working environment; professional esteem; and specialist status.

Implementing a care model for the older person.

This second in a three-part series shows how to use the Caring For and Caring About model in practice. Part 1, published last week, described the model; part 3, to be published online on 10 April, shows how to manage care using existing resources.

A new model of care for the older person.

This first in a three-part series explores the nature of the caring relationship between caregivers and older people in nursing and residential homes. It proposes a revision of the Caring For and Caring About model. Using this model, where appropriate, staff move their care approach from a protective focus of "caring for" residents to a remedial focus of "caring about" them; the latter aims to promote self-help and autonomy as much as possible.

Medication administration errors for older people in long-term residential care.

Background: Older people in long-term residential care are at increased risk of medication prescribing and administration errors. The main aim of this study was to measure the incidence of medication administration errors in nursing and residential homes using a barcode medication administration (BCMA) system.

Methods: A prospective study was conducted in 13 care homes (9 residential and 4 nursing).

How social care staff working in residential homes perceive their professional status.

Aim: The aim of the study was to explore how 'new role' and other social carers and stakeholders involved in providing enhanced health and social care for older people perceive the social care support worker's professional status.

Method: Three different enhanced care approaches, of which two trained social care support workers to undertake new clinical support roles were studied in three residential homes: a local authority home, a voluntary sector home and a 'not for profit' independent sector home for older people. Participants were staff with national vocational qualifications at level 3 as new role carers with and without additional basic health skills awards.

New barcode checks help reduce drug round errors in care homes.

A study undertaken between January 2008 and December 2010 evaluated the effects of a pharmacy-led barcode medication system in care homes (with or without on-site registered nursing staff). The findings show that the system raised awareness of 'near miss' errors, particularly among nurses, and reduced stress and the pressure of medication rounds. Care staff in nursing homes, in particular, could administer selected medications using this system, but the development of a wider professional framework is recommended by the researchers at the University of the West of England and Warwick Medical School.

In-reach specialist nursing teams for residential care homes: uptake of services, impact on care provision and cost-effectiveness.

Background: A joint NHS-Local Authority initiative in England designed to provide a dedicated nursing and physiotherapy in-reach team (IRT) to four residential care homes has been evaluated. The IRT supported 131 residents and maintained 15 'virtual' beds for specialist nursing in these care homes.

Methods: Data captured prospectively (July 2005 to June 2007) included: numbers of referrals; reason for referral; outcome (e.

In response.

I think the paper that cites our research provides a useful introduction to the issues around end-of-life care, but the research has been presented as a 'bad story' to which solutions are offered through the Gold Standards Framework, which is to the detriment of the research. In particular, we feel that the language used for reporting our research has obscured some important messages and upset some of the audience we wanted to engage with this issue. We would make the following points about your article.

A step in the right direction.

The importance of nursing assessment for older people within a multi-disciplinary framework has long been advocated by the Royal College of Nursing (RCN 1997a , 1997b ). The government's guidance for the single assessment process, to be implemented locally from April for older people (DoH 2001a ), is therefore welcomed as a move towards ensuring that older people will receive regular and ongoing multi-agency assessment as a part of the care planning process. In particular, the emphasis on a person-centred approach is fully in line with the values and beliefs held by the RCN ( RCN 1999 ) and echoed in the National Service Framework for Older People (DoH 2001b ).

National service framework a GNP response.

The National Service Framework (NSF) for older people is a comprehensive strategy which seeks to ensure fair, high quality, integrated health and social care services for older people. It sets out a ten-year programme of action to address specific challenges, and the RCN Gerontological Nursing Programme has now planned what action the team intends to take towards achieving each of the standards, including the following.