Joint webinar held on policy priorities for high-quality care homes

It was chaired by Professor Catherine Evans, Cicely Saunders Institute, King’s College London and attended by over 150 delegates, including practitioners from care homes and community palliative care, and researchers, policy makers and commissioners. Professor Katherine Sleeman, Cicely Saunders Institute, King’s College London, reported findings from the CovPall_CareHome study on how care homes responded to the increased need for palliative and end of life care during the Covid-19 pandemic, detailing policy recommendations including:  Valuing the role of care homes and care home staff; and ‘Spirit of partnership’: Integration with primary and specialist palliative care.

Katherine was joined by Dr Josie Dixon, London School of Economics and Political Science, reporting on the Visit-id Study about care home managers’ experiences of developing and implementing visiting policies, and Professor Claire Goodman, University of Hertfordshire reporting findings from the DACHA study on who defines care home residents’ quality of life and how is it measured. All three studies are funded by respective National Institute of Health and Care research programmes, and supported by NIHR ARCs for South London (CovPall_CareHomes) and East of England (DACHA).