By Anura Kalubowila, Registered Manager, Purley View Nursing Home, Surrey
When we think about research in health and care, we might immediately picture universities, laboratories or large NHS hospitals. But care homes have an important contribution to make too.
At Purley View Nursing Home, I have always believed that providing good care isn’t simply about meeting required standards. We should continually be asking questions, looking at things differently and finding new ways to improve the lives of the people we support.
For us, becoming involved in health and care research has been an important part of that journey.
Our research journey
Over recent years, Purley View has had the opportunity to participate in a number of research projects exploring different aspects of life, health and wellbeing within care homes.
These have included the Ripple programme, which explored residents’ lives and personal experiences and captured their stories visually; Settle In, which focused on supporting people during the transition into a care home; and the SONNET study, looking at community support for people living with dementia.
We have also contributed to the PREACH study, exploring priorities for care home research, and a National Dental Epidemiology study.
Each project has been different, but collectively they have encouraged us to think more deeply about the people we support, their experiences and how we can continue to develop the care we provide.
Research benefits staff too
One of the things I have found particularly interesting is the effect that participating in research can have on our staff.
Research encourages people to ask questions. It creates conversations about why we do things in a particular way and whether there might be another approach. It can give staff a fresh perspective on their work and encourage them to think beyond everyday routines.
For a care service, I think that culture of curiosity is incredibly valuable.
It moves us from simply asking, “Are we doing what we should be doing?” to asking, “What else could we learn, and could we do this even better?”
Care homes should be part of the conversation
There is a wealth of knowledge and experience within social care that can contribute to wider health and care research.
Our residents, families and staff experience health and care services every day. By opening our doors to appropriate research, we can help researchers understand those experiences and contribute to evidence that may ultimately improve care well beyond our own service.
We’ve been fortunate to receive excellent support from the NIHR Research Delivery Network, which has helped us understand how care homes can become involved and supported us through that process.
Looking beyond what we already do
As a Registered Manager, I believe part of leadership is being willing to look beyond the immediate demands of running a service. Research gives us an opportunity to do that.
My message to other care home managers would be simple: don’t underestimate what your service has to contribute.
Getting involved may initially feel like stepping into unfamiliar territory, but it can bring new ideas into a service, develop staff and give the people we support an opportunity to contribute to something much bigger.
At Purley View, we intend to continue opening our doors to research and playing our part in developing the evidence that shapes the future of health and social care.
Because care homes shouldn’t simply be places where research findings are eventually put into practice.
We should also be places that help create the evidence in the first place.
Anura Kalubowila
Registered Manager
Purley View Nursing Home, Surrey
The original NIHR article by Anura is available here: Purley View Nursing Home: Opening our doors to research – NIHR Research Delivery Network